Addison and the Asshole
by mischieflover
Summary: They say first impressions are everything. His was terrible. So was hers. They'd rather have nothing to do with each other, but once they've met, they run into each other everywhere. Eventually, out of necessity, she joins the group.To him, it seems she does it just to be infuriating. Will the hate last or will they learn to be together? (Let's face it, we know the answer.)Daryl/OC
1. Chapter 1

**Typical me, starting another story before I've finished the others. But my current obsession with The Walking Dead won't let me NOT write something. So, without further ado, I present Addison and the Asshole. Enjoy.**

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Addison crashed through the underbrush, barely feeling the scratches as a thorny bush caught at her arms and face. She was running on pure adrenaline. The lead was hers. For now. It was only a matter of time before she tanked and they caught up to her. The bloody things didn't tire, and that was almost worse than the part where they craved your flesh.

Addison stumbled up a sudden incline, grabbing at the dirt with her fingers for anything to help pull her up. She could just barely make out the uneven, heavy steps of the Roamers over her own pounding heartbeat. They sounded far enough away that she might be home free if she could just make it up the steep rise. The Roamers' lack of coordination would greatly hinder their ability to climb up. However, if she fell back down, she was toast.

That thought was enough to spur her into action. Lunging for a sapling tree trunk, Addison just managed to wrap her fingers around it. Grunting with the effort, she pulled her body up to the tree. She spared a two-second glance back over her shoulder. Three of the Roamers were about twenty feet away from the incline. Addison focused ahead again, looking for her next tree branch or something to use. She spotted a low-hanging branch eight or nine feet from where she was. Bracing her feet against the trunk of the sapling, Addison readied herself for the big push. She wouldn't let herself think about it, the fact that she didn't have the strength to launch herself that far against gravity. She squeezed her eyes shut for a split second, crouched, and then pushed out with all her might. Her hands instinctively reached out, ready to grab the branch. Addison felt her momentum slowing and found her hands grasping at thin air, their target a mere six inches too far.

"Sh—!" Before she could even get the whole word out, a dirty hand grabbed hers, seemingly from nowhere. The sudden pull left her momentarily breathless. Addison immediately started struggling to break the grip. She wasn't going down like this. She could feel that she was still being pulled. She kicked out, hoping to make contact with a brittle bone and snap it in two.

Instead, she met something soft yet hard, and rather than the moan that haunted her dreams, her action was followed by a "Fuckin' Christ!" That made her stop struggling, and the mystery man hauled her the rest of the way up. He dropped her unceremoniously as soon as she cleared the edge of the steep hill. "Was only savin' your ass, ungrateful woman," he said in what could only be described as a growl. Addison took deep, shaky breaths to slow her heart before she had a heart attack.

"You came out of nowhere," she said as soon as she could talk. "I thought you were a Roamer." Though he certainly didn't look like one, she added to herself, finally getting a real look. Dirty, sure. But not rotting or trying to eat her.

His slate-blue eyes narrowed when he noticed her staring. "I ain't a museum piece, so quit gawkin'." He adjusted the crossbow slung across his back and looked at her expectantly. "Well?" he said after a moment of silence. "Ain't you gonna thank me for keepin' you from bein' a happy meal?"

"Th-thanks," Addison stuttered, at a loss of what to think about the man.

He sneered at her shocked gratitude and shook his head. "Whatever." He turned and left.

Addison stared after him. After a minute or two, she mentally shook herself. Not Roamer, but Asshole.

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**Please let me know what you think by dropping a quick review! Love.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you to everyone who followed, favorited, and especially reviewed the first chapter! It was awesome to see all of that in my inbox! I hope I am able to somewhat regularly update this, but unfortunately I can make no promises. All I can ask is that you all stick with it if I get swamped by life and don't get a chapter out for a while. But for today, I present to you lovely people _Addison and the Asshole_, Chapter Two.** **Enjoy!**

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Addison winced as a twig snapped under her shoe. About thirty yards away, the doe she'd been trying to track startled and made a run for it. "Damn it," Addison huffed. Before she could start after the deer, it fell inexplicably. Addison crouched, alert for anything and everything, and slowly continued toward the doe. She was twenty yards away when she heard something coming through the trees to her right. Addison ducked behind a bush, grabbing a heavy fallen branch. Gripping it tightly, she peered through the dead brown leaves of the bush, searching for what could have dropped that deer.

Suddenly, a man appeared from behind a tree. Addison's eyes widened as she watched him go over to the deer and yank an arrow out of the body. "Oh, no freaking way," she groaned. It was that asshole from a week ago who saved her and then called her ungrateful.

His head snapped up, and Addison realized he'd heard her. Seeing him begin to reload his crossbow, Addison panicked and hurriedly stood up, dropping the branch at her feet.

The man's mouth hung open for a moment before he recovered from the surprise. "You?" he said incredulously, lowering the crossbow.

"You shot my deer!" Addison accused, jabbing a finger at the animal.

"_Your_ deer?" Asshole scoffed. "Don't see your name on it." He unloaded the crossbow again, wiping the arrow off on his cutoff shirt before sticking it back into its holding place on the underside of the bow.

"I was tracking it!"

Asshole raised an eyebrow. "Sure you were. And I was gatherin' berries to make a pie." He shook his head, slinging his crossbow across his back, and went to grab the doe.

"Hey!" Addison grabbed her pack and the branch, and moved to stop Asshole. He straightened up, eyeing the branch. Addison saw him slowly place a hand on the holster at his hip. "Whoa there," Addison said in a more gentle tone. She raised her hands in surrender. "I just want my deer."

Asshole snorted. "Yeah? And a little thing like you is gonna carry it outta here? I shot it; it's mine. Get lost." He moved to get enough leverage to pick up the deer.

Addison grunted, and before either of them knew it, she clubbed him in the head with the branch. Addison stared at the unconscious man at her feet, her heart pounding wildly. She leaned back against a tree, taking a moment to recover. Then she moved around his body to the deer. Taking a rope from her pack, she trussed up the doe and started to drag it back to base camp. "Don't underestimate me," Addison muttered angrily.

…

It was nearly two weeks after the deer incident with Asshole, as she had come to call him in her mind. Addison was scavenging through what was left of a small town. Keeping an eye out for Roamers, she moved methodically from building to building, hoping that somehow nobody had looted the convenience mart or the grocery store. As she exited the ma-and-pop food store, there was a flash of light coming around the corner of the block. Addison quickly ducked behind the burnt shell of a minivan. There was the crunch of garbage under slow-moving tires as an entire caravan of cars rolled past her hiding place. The light had been the sun reflecting off of a windshield, she realized. Still crouched, she tried to peer around the rear bumper of the van to see if the last car in the group had passed yet.

It hadn't. The caravan came to a stop right outside the store she had just been in. The idling engines were shut off and, Addison assumed, the people checked for any sign of Roamers. After a moment, she heard doors opening and shutting as the people got out of the cars.

Addison realized she was in a potentially-life-threatening situation. Those people would probably do a more thorough check for Roamers now that they were out of the vehicles. Addison knew there weren't any, but the newcomers didn't. One of them would see her as they approached, and she prayed that they weren't the shoot-first kind of people. She knew she looked as dirty as a Roamer and there was a good chance that it would be all the evidence someone needed to kill her before taking a closer look.

A boot scuffed against the pavement to her left. Slowly, Addison reached down to the sheath strapped to her right leg and drew out her hunting knife. She had found it a few days ago, by a mutilated corpse in the woods. Someone clearly hadn't known how to use it. Gripping the knife handle in her sweaty hand, Addison hoped for the best as the owner of the boot came around the front of the minivan.

She suddenly found herself staring down the barrel of a gun. The person holding it was a relatively handsome man in a plaid button-down shirt, jeans, and what looked to be cowboy-style boots.

"Say something," the man quietly commanded.

Addison blurted the first thing to come to her panicked mind: "Don't shoot!"

The man let out a breath and lowered the gun. "Any Walkers around here?" he asked.

"You mean Roamers? No," Addison told him. "I killed one about half a mile outside of town, but the town itself is clear."

He nodded. "We're clear," he announced to the rest of his group. He held out his hand to help her up.

As soon as Addison stood up, someone in the group yelled, "Are you fuckin' serious?!"

Addison whipped around. Behind her, on the other side of the van, was Asshole. "Are you following me?" Addison asked in disbelief.

Asshole wrinkled his nose in apparent distaste. "Why the hell would I be following you?"

Addison opened her mouth and then shut it again, unable to come up with a suitable retort. Asshole smirked. Addison saw the other members of Asshole's group looking quizzically between him and her. She focused her attention back on the man who had helped her up. "There's nothing here. The whole place has been picked over pretty thoroughly." Addison finally re-sheathed her knife and crossed her arms over her chest. She didn't want to share whatever this town might still have with this group, much less with Asshole. She stooped to grab her pack from the ground. "I appreciate you not shooting me," she said, turning to leave. She only got a few steps before the man called out to her.

"Are you a part of a group?"

Addison turned around. "Nope. Not aiming to be, either," she added, guessing the intent behind his question. "I'd say 'See you later,' but…" She trailed off for a moment, glancing at Asshole. "I rather hope not." Grinning to herself, Addison could almost feel Asshole's glare burning into the back of her head as she walked away.

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**How'd you like it? I felt bad for the first chapter being so short, so I tried to make up for it here. Let me know what you thought by dropping a review! Love.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Wow. I must be obsessed or something, with all these quick updates. I guarantee you that a big part of it is your reviews! I'm loving all the feedback, so please keep it coming! Some of you have expressed your wish that certain characters should just get together already... But you'll have to wait a little longer yet :) After this chapter, we'll finally be getting to the good stuff. I've got the next few chapters planned out, so unless something goes horribly wrong, you'll get a few updates pretty quickly here. But for now, enjoy Chapter Three :)**

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Ever since the run-in with Asshole's group in the town three weeks ago, Addison spent more time in the woods and avoided anything that resembled civilization until she needed more supplies. She had to admit, however, that she was getting pretty tired of sleeping in trees, using her rope to strap herself to the trunk so she didn't fall in the middle of the night.

The past several days had been scorching, sapping all her energy nearly instantaneously every morning. Addison stayed in the shade of the trees, although it hardly made a difference, sun or shade. She followed the highway. She wasn't sure why. She had no destination in mind. But between sticking to the highway and hiking through the middle of the forest, her plan seemed to be the lesser of two evils. Besides, it would be easier to find food in the cluster-fuck of abandoned vehicles.

There was a low rumble of thunder in the distance. Addison looked up to see dark clouds rolling rather quickly across the sky. Lightning began to scatter across the cloud cover, and Addison was suddenly seven years old again, cowering under the covers.

_The lightning lit up the room even though the curtains were pulled together. The digital princess clock that stood on her dresser at the foot of her bed displayed 2:47 AM. The rain pounded against the window and the wind threw twigs and leaves into the glass, barely audible over the frequent cracks of thunder. Addison heard her door creak open and chanced a look above the covers._

_She saw her brother come into her room. Will was eleven and so much braver than Addison was. He had come to check on her, knowing she was terrified of thunderstorms. Lightning struck again and Addison ducked under the covers again._

"_Addi," she heard Will say gently, "it's okay. The storm can't hurt you. It's just light and noise." She felt the bed sink by her feet as Will sat down. He began to hum the lullaby that their mother used to sing to them when they had trouble sleeping. Addison focused on her big brother's song, slowly tuning out the rumbling thunder. She hadn't realized that she had fallen asleep until she woke up in the morning, the sunlight coloring her room orange and pink as it filtered through the curtains._

Addison fell to her knees in the overgrown saw-grass as the rain started to fall. Will. The only person who could calm her when she was scared. Thunderstorms, their mother's cancer diagnosis, the end of the world, anything. She could face it all as long as her brother was by her side. But he hadn't been there in a long time. Addison pounded the heels of her palms into her head several times in a futile attempt to stave off the guilt that plagued any memories associated with her brother. When that didn't work, she started tearing up the sharp grass around her, hoping the fresh pain would mask the old pain.

Thunder rumbled again, but at the end of it, there was a different sort of rumbling. Addison pressed her hands to her thighs for a minute to stop the bleeding cuts from the grass. She climbed up the side of the ditch to the highway. The rain came down harder, making the slope slick. The water mixed with sweat, making her hands and arms sting. Finally, she made it to the pavement. The noise she had heard after the thunder hadn't stopped, and it was quickly getting closer. Addison pushed dirty blonde strands of hair out of her face as she crept between the cars, trying to get a look at the source of the noise. She squinted in an attempt to see through the pouring rain. Lightning flashed and she resisted the urge to flinch.

There. A second flash glinted off a bit of metal that hadn't been there before. It was on the other side of the grassy median. Addison slipped between the cars to get a closer look. It was a motorcycle. It was weaving around the cars cluttering the highway. As it came closer, she saw it was one of those redneck motorcycles, with the handlebars higher than the driver's head. Addison crouched behind a grey sedan, peering through one of the windows as the biker roared past. She let out a long sigh, fogging up the window. "Asshole. Of course," Addison muttered to herself. She watched him until he was out of sight and then went back into the relative safety of the woods.

…

_She was cornered and there were too many of them. She tried to aim the handgun, but her hands were shaking so badly that she kept missing the kill shots. _

_Without warning, the closest Roamer dropped to the ground in a spray of blood and brains. She looked around to see Will running up on her left, his hunting rifle in his hands. "Addi! Addi, shoot!" He skidded to a halt, shouldered his rifle, and took out another Roamer. "Come on, Addison, you gotta focus!"_

_She took a deep breath and pulled the trigger. The bullet drilled through a female Roamer's head. More of them crumpled to the ground as Will took them out. "Okay, Addi, let's go! We gotta run for it now!"_

_She sidestepped the pile of corpses and backed toward Will. The remaining Roamers turned to follow her, some tripping over the fallen. She turned to run but stopped short. More Roamers had been drawn to them by the gunfire. They were shuffling up behind Will, whose focus was completely on her. She cried out, pointing at them. He turned and hurriedly began to reload his rifle, but the Roamers had closed the gap. Will gave up reloading and swung the butt-end like a baseball bat. There was a sickening crunch as it connected with the side of a Roamer's head. Will brought it around for another swing, but the Roamers had close in around him and there wasn't enough room._

_She watched as grey, rotted hands grabbed at Will's shirt. A scream rose over the ravenous moans, and she realized it was coming from her. She started to run again, aiming the gun ahead of her. She had taken out one Roamer and hit another in the back when she heard him shout, "Get the hell out of here, Addi! I'll be right behind you – RUN!" She found her legs following the orders without any conscious decision of hers to do so. Then she heard the – _

Addison woke with a start, holding her breath in the darkness. Something was coming through the forest, and not too quietly either. She quickly untied the rope and stuffed it in her pack. After dropping out of the tree, Addison pulled out her knife and watched the trees for any sign of what was coming. Whatever it was, it was big.

She heard them before she saw them. At first, it was only three. They staggered through the underbrush, somehow avoiding tripping over tree roots. Then there were four more. Then eight. The groaning increased in volume as more and more came into view. A herd. That was the only way she could describe what she was seeing. Addison knew there was no fighting this many. Climbing back up the tree was out of the question. They'd smell her and she'd be stuck for days before they got bored and moved on, if that even happened. So Addison sheathed the knife and did what she did best: she ran.

Her tree had only been about a hundred yards or so from a rest stop off the main highway. She sprinted back towards it now, keeping her eyes peeled for low hanging branches that could take her down. The Roamers sounded close enough that if she fell, well, she didn't want to think about the possibilities.

Addison made it out of the trees, only about sixty yards to go. She saw an odd orange flickering light up the side of the rest stop building. Even knowing what was coming behind her, the sight forced her to stop. Shadows moved back and forth in front of the light. Somebody was camping here for the night.

Addison hesitated a minute too long. There was a hungry growl behind her and she was abruptly pulled off her feet by the pack on her back. Addison let out an involuntary scream and kicked, connecting with the Roamer's face and felt its cold blood drip on her cheek. She pulled her arms out of the straps of the pack and scrambled to her feet, making a mad dash toward the camp.

The people were yelling and some of them were running through the grass towards her. A skinny Asian boy reached her first, holding a shotgun. "How many?" he asked frantically, holding an arm out to stop her.

Addison gasped for breath, shaking her head. "Too – too many," she panted. All of a sudden, a young boy darted past them, a handgun clenched in his fist.

"Carl, no!" the Asian boy shouted. He left Addison to chase after the kid.

Without thinking, Addison followed, wrenching her knife out of the sheath. She was faster than the Asian, and quickly overtook him. The kid had stopped and was taking out Roamers one by one, but they just kept coming. Soon, she could tell, he'd be overwhelmed. Addison heard others from the camp shouting the kid's name. He ignored them all and turned to the right and shot, slaying another Roamer. He didn't see the one coming up behind him.

"Duck!" Addison yelled. She got lucky and the kid obeyed instantly. Addison launched herself at the attacking Roamer, dispatching it with a swift knife to the forehead. She grabbed the kid's arm and hauled him back with her. By now, the rest of the group had made it to them.

If Addison believed in fate or destiny or whatever people wanted to call it, it would be clear that someone up there had a twisted sense of humor. The man who grabbed the kid from her was none other than the one who thankfully hadn't pulled the trigger in the town nearly four weeks ago. He looked about as stunned to see her as she was to see him – or, rather, would have been, if running into the same people over and over again could still surprise her at this point. If that man was here, Asshole was too. The others of the group began to shoot, and the air was filled with the deafening gunfire. Addison only had a knife and knew she wouldn't be any use. She moved around the man and the kid, leaving the group behind her.

"Ain't you gonna help?!" a familiar voice roared.

Addison spared a glance to her right, seeing Asshole glaring at her. She turned away and kept running.

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**Thoughts? Please drop a review! Love.**


	4. Chapter 4

**If I may say so, I'm incredibly proud of myself for all these consistent updates. It's pretty unusual for me, actually. So, I realized I had never established any sort of timeline for this story. It picks up after the season 2 finale. So as cool as the prison is, they won't be going there - at least not for now. I may decide to use it later, depending on where the story goes. You're starting to see who's still a part of the group, and the next chapter will lay it all out, group-wise. I feel like I had more to say, but I can't think of it now. In that case, please sit back and enjoy the fourth installment.**

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Addison staggered from house to house, searching in vain for something – anything – to eat. The hungry rumbling in her belly had stopped days ago, replaced by just a dead hollowness. The pack that she had lost to a Roamer during the attack on the rest stop had contained all the food. That had been… five days ago? A week? It was so hard to count the days anymore. The sun came up and went down and every day was the same: a struggle to survive. Addison wasn't too sure she could even do that for much longer. She imagined she could feel her body wasting away from the inside.

Before she could stop the train of thought, she supposed that this might be what it felt like to be a Roamer. A fever raging inside until you became an empty shell, feeling nothing but constant, ravenous hunger. Death by starvation, she mused, would be preferable.

Except, Addison realized with a heavy heart, she wouldn't stay dead. No matter how she died, she would come back. The first time she had seen it, Addison nearly let off a round into her own head right then and there.

_A group of four guys, in their late twenties maybe, were looting the houses in the neighborhood she had taken refuge in. She knew there were other survivors in the area, but these men were new._

_A barrage of gunfire abruptly shattered the silence. Addison chanced a peek over the window sill of the house she'd been staying in. A group of Roamers were shuffling down the street toward the men. The men took no notice of where they were aiming; their automatic weapons, no doubt stolen from an overrun military post, sprayed bullets through Roamers and windows alike._

_Two houses down, a large picture window burst into thousands of shards. Addison heard a woman scream and then saw her flee the house. The men paid no attention, continuing to cover the area in a shower of bullets. Addison watched as the woman stopped in her tracks halfway across the yard. She appeared to be shivering, but then the front of her pale yellow shirt began to turn red. She pitched backward, tumbling over a ceramic birdbath, and was still._

_It took several more minutes until the men looked satisfied with the carnage in front of them. The Roamers had piled on top of each other as they were brought down. Nothing in the pile moved. The men clapped each other on the back, congratulating a job well done. Then they climbed into their dark blue F-150 and gunned it up and over the mass of corpses. The tires flung bloody bits into the air, creating a gory rain as it splattered back to the ground._

_Clearly, the place was no longer safe. More Roamers would be drawn by the intense gunfire. Addison gathered her meager belongings and left through the front door. Walking down the sidewalk, she couldn't help but pause as she came up to the woman who'd been gunned down. The formerly yellow shirt was riddled with holes. Her blood had not so much blossomed out into the shirt as simply drenched it. Addison's gaze slowly moved up to the woman's face. Had she not seen the body, Addison could have believed the woman was merely sleeping. She crouched down next to the body, brushing a lock of brown curly hair out of the woman's face._

_Nothing could have prepared her for what happened._

_The dead woman's eyes shot open and Addison screamed. A clammy hand grabbed her arm, pulling her closer to the woman's gnashing teeth. Addison reached with her free hand and lifted a broken chunk of the birdbath. Raising it high above her head, Addison brought it down with a revolting wet thud onto the woman's head. She felt the grip loosen on her arm and tugged herself free, shaking with the surging rush of adrenaline that disappeared as quickly as it had come._

There was no escape in death, unless it was a head shot. Addison wasn't sure that she could actually go through with opting out. There was a whole other level to death when it became a suicide. Starvation, eaten alive, shot by another trigger-happy survivor – those were all ways to go without control. Suicide? Nothing more personal than killing yourself. Besides, even if Addison could do it, she didn't have a gun anymore and she sure as hell wouldn't have the strength to plunge her knife into her own skull.

'Better dead dead than Roamer,' said a voice in the back of her head.

Addison clenched her fists. 'There was nothing we could have done; we were overwhelmed,' she snapped back at the voice.

'You had a chance. You could have done it and ended it all before it even happened.'

'He was _my brother_!'

'And now he's a monster. Coward.'

Addison felt her nose begin to tingle, the way it always did right before she cried. She furiously wiped at her eyes before any tears could spill over. Taking a moment to compose herself, Addison leaned against a tree in a front yard. She thumped the back of her head softly against the rough bark, wondering if it would be best to just sit down and let the inevitable happen.

'It's only fair,' the voice piped up. She didn't argue with it. It was obvious that the area had been picked clean. What food had been there was eaten, taken, or spoiled. Addison ached all over, and just the prospect of continuing on made her head spin.

So she sat down.

…

Addison had no idea how long she was out for. The survivor in her, though greatly diminished at this point, woke her. Someone was walking down the street behind her. Addison clenched the handle of her knife, but didn't pull it all the way out yet. The fat trunk of the maple she was leaning against hid her from view. She reluctantly got to her feet, careful to stay hidden. It didn't sound like a Roamer, whoever it was. The steps were even and strong, as if they had a purpose. Addison sighed and risked a look around the tree.

The man's sharp eyes caught her movement immediately. "Hey!" he said in a harsh whisper as she tried to slip behind the tree again. His steps quickened, getting closer. Addison pushed her knife back into its sheath; she had seen the man's shotgun. Although she didn't get the best look, Addison was fairly sure it wasn't Asshole. "What are the odds," said the man, his voice practically right beside her.

Addison flinched and looked up at him. Then she shook her head, rolling her eyes. "All right, is this some kind of joke? There's an entire hell-filled world out there, yet we always seem to be occupying the same tiny part of it."

The man, who was now from both the town and the rest stop, smiled. "Maybe it's a sign?"

Addison snorted. "Sure, maybe. If you believe in that sort of thing. I'd call it an incredibly weird series of chance encounters." She leaned against the tree again, feeling spent as the adrenaline from the man's arrival went away.

"You don't look so good," he observed.

"Pretty sure we've all looked better," Addison muttered at the ground.

The man studied her. Finally, he asked, "How long has it been since you've eaten?" Addison merely shrugged in response. The man sighed. "Join us."

Addison rolled her head to the side so she could look at him again. "Like I said before, I don't want to be in a group."

"You'll die out here on your own." His blue eyes searched her face. She simply shrugged again. The man ran a hand through his dark hair. "You saved my boy. The least I can do is give you some food and a safe place to rest, if only for a little while." Addison sighed but said nothing. "After that, you'll be free to stay or go. But please let me repay my debt to you."

Addison considered his plea, chewing on her thumbnail. Her survival instincts won out. "Fine." The man gave her another smile, taking a gentle hold of her elbow to help support her back out of the neighborhood.

"Our camp's just outside this suburb," he told her. "I'm Rick, by the way. I can't thank you enough for saving Carl at that rest stop. He's got an unfortunate habit of not listening when we tell him to stay in the car."

Addison nodded. "I saw. It was no problem," she added, brushing off his gratitude. "I'm sure that Asian guy could have handled it if I hadn't beaten him to it."

"Glenn, yes," Rick said. "But it was you." He took her across a front lawn and through another backyard, cutting to the right of the neighborhood. He glanced down at her. "So, you have a name I can use to introduce you?"

"It's Addison."

"Glad to meet you, Addison."

The two walked in silence until they reached the limit of the suburb. Addison saw a thin trail of smoke rise up between a small circle of vehicles. Rick guided her around a green hatchback and into the center of camp. The group was already gathered around the smoldering coals, chatting quietly as they ate their dinner. When Rick and Addison approached, they fell silent one by one.

Rick cleared his throat to address the group. "The neighborhood's pretty well cleaned out, so we won't stay here past tomorrow. However –" Rick put a hand on Addison's shoulder, "—I did find Addison, and some of you may remember her from previous encounters during the past few weeks. She needs food and a safe place to rest, which is the least we can do after she saved one of our own. After that, I've left it up to her whether or not she wants to join us. Please help her with anything she needs, because we are in her debt."

The group nodded their acceptance of Rick's instructions, all except one. Addison had been trying to avoid looking in his direction, but she let herself have a glance. There was a dark scowl on Asshole's face.

"Bullshit," he muttered, loud enough for everyone to hear. "She ran away; she don't deserve our help." Addison tried to ignore the sting of his angry words.

"Daryl," a middle-aged woman with close-cropped graying hair said softly, reaching out to lay a hand on his arm. Ass– Daryl – jerked his arm away, standing up. With one last glare at Addison, he stalked off behind a white and red truck and disappeared.

Addison heard Rick sigh tiredly beside her, "He… takes some getting used to."

She gave a short, humorless laugh. "I've noticed."

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**So Addison's a part of the group now. We're that much closer! Thank you to everyone who has followed, favorited, and most importantly reviewed! I'm 100% serious when I say that getting those reviews helps me to write faster. So drop me one? :) Love.**


	5. Chapter 5

**As soon as I say I'm doing so well with updating, I go and take a week to get this one up. My bad. But I got a lot planned out, so at least I know what I'm doing. This chapter was originally going to be about twice as long as it is now, but that seemed to be getting a little excessive. Which means - good news - I have most of the next chapter already done! But now I have to stop and do homework… Enjoy Chapter 5.**

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For the first few days or so since joining the group, Addison gradually warmed up to the other members; getting over nearly seven months of solitude was a rather large hurdle. She decided that she liked Rick, Glenn, T-Dog, and Maggie the best. Rick's son, Carl, was a bit much for her, disobeying his parents and all the other people in the group at every turn. Beth, Maggie's sister, was all right, but Addison couldn't really tell much about the girl since she didn't talk very much; the same with their father, Hershel. Lori, Rick's wife, seemed to be constantly at odds with her husband and there was often a tense atmosphere between the two, even though they tried to cover it up. The woman who had tried to calm Daryl the first night Addison arrived at camp was Carol, the soft motherly figure of the group; Addison sometimes thought she tried too hard, but was nice enough. Addison avoided Daryl, formerly Asshole, like he was the plague. And for his part, he simply acted like she didn't exist.

Then, about a week and a half in, they both seemed to realize that the other was around, and tempers flared. It was the littlest things that sparked irritation. As a former English teacher, Addison inwardly cringed at a lot of what came out of Daryl's mouth. It was the double negatives that hurt her grammar-loving soul the most. One night, as they ate a paltry dinner of cooked squirrel bits, Glenn complained a bit too loudly that having squirrel night after night was getting old. Daryl narrowed his eyes at the Asian across the fire. "Ain't nothin' in those woods besides squirrel," he spat angrily. Addison gave an irritated sighed, and Daryl rounded on her. "The hell's your problem?"

"'There _isn't anything_ in those woods besides squirrel,'" she said.

"The hell you repeatin' me for?" Daryl asked, the usual scowl on his face.

Addison rolled her eyes. "Not repeating, correcting. Do you even hear what comes out of your mouth when you speak? It's a wonder you're even able to communicate most days."

Daryl's slate blue eyes narrowed at her now. "Was doin' just fine before your ass came along."

Addison shrugged. "Whatever." She stood and dumped the inedible parts of the meal into the fire before going to her tent for the night.

Addison was woken by the cicadas buzzing in the woods behind her. Judging by the angle of the sunlight on the tent wall, it couldn't have been later than eight in the morning. She groaned at the thought of how hot it would get in the afternoon if the insects were already this loud. Addison threw on her boots, unzipped the tent door, and stepped outside. Something made a revolting crunch under her left boot. She looked down to see the space in front of her tent littered with squirrel skins and bones. She had just crushed a little skull. Addison balled her hands into fists, seething. That asshole was going to start pulling this passive-aggressive shit just because she corrected his grammar? Fucking ridiculous. Addison kicked aside the squirrel leftovers and then, as an afterthought, picked up one of the skins by its bushy tail and stalked over to the morning breakfast fire. Daryl had his back to her as she approached, so she chucked the hide at the back of his head, satisfied when it caught in his hair before he was able to yank it off. Daryl turned toward her, smirking. "You are so incredibly childish," Addison snapped.

"Why d'you think it was me and not some coyote or somethin' enjoyin' its dinner?" Daryl asked innocently.

"Because I'm not an idiot."

"You sayin' I am?" Daryl said, his tone holding a warning.

"Infer what you will," Addison said, waving a dismissive hand. Daryl scowled at her.

The following week, nothing changed. Addison relentlessly corrected Daryl's grammar whenever he made the mistake of speaking around her, and he continued to prepare the meat for dinners outside her tent, leaving the scraps where they fell.

Addison ignored the confused and concerned looks that the other group members sent her way when she and Daryl got into it. She was regretting ever agreeing to stay here. Sooner or later, they were bound to kick her out because of the conflict between her and Daryl. Besides being a part of the group first, he was a greater asset. He could hunt and fight as well as – if not better than – anyone else in the group.

What could Addison do? She was ideal for supply runs, being small and quick, but they already had Glenn and Maggie for that. Rick was sure to realize that Addison was simply another mouth to feed and body to protect. And if he didn't, she had no doubt that Daryl would only be too happy to point it out as soon as it became apparent.

…

Addison was helping Carol and Lori hang the laundry over a rope they had strung up between two of the cars.

"Addison," Carol said slowly, as if she was wondering whether or not to bring something up, "may I ask what exactly is going on between you and Daryl?"

Addison shrugged. "I don't like him; he doesn't like me. It's mutual."

"Carl!" Lori called, thankfully interrupting any further explanation. "Stay where I can see you!" The boy gave no indication that he had heard her. Lori sighed. "I hope this baby listens better than its older brother."

Carol smiled. "I think Carl is just tired of being the youngest. He'll settle once he has someone to look after."

Addison nodded. "I saw a lot of that with the kids I taught. If I gave them something to be responsible for, they took it seriously and quit screwing around. Carl just wants to be one of the adults. All kids his age wish they were older. It doesn't help that there's no one his age here –" Addison stopped short when she saw Lori give a sharp shake of her head from behind Carol, whose face contorted into a mask of sorrow for a brief moment before she pulled herself together. Then she went about hanging laundry as if nothing had bothered her.

Lori cleared her throat. "And here I was, thinking that the trouble ended with the Terrible Two's," she said, and the three women laughed, ignoring the fact that it sounded forced.

"Oh dear," Carol said quietly. "Speaking of trouble…"

Lori and Addison looked in the direction Carol was and saw Daryl angrily striding up to Glenn. They quickly hung up the rest of the laundry and went to see what was going on just as Daryl started yelling.

"When's the last time you been on watch duty?" he asked, getting into Glenn's face. "When you gonna start pulling your weight around here?"

Addison was impressed that Glenn didn't back down. "I do supply runs! I go out and risk my neck so we can live in some sort of comfort!"

"So you can spend _quality time_ with the farmer's daughter, more like," Daryl mocked.

Glenn shook his head. "You know what, dude? Fuck you." He turned to go sit by the fire.

Daryl grabbed his arm. "Hey, I ain't done with you yet, Chinaman."

There was a moment of silence and then Daryl was given almost no time to react before Glenn swung his fist around. "I'm Korean!" he shouted.

The two men went down amid a torrent of cursing. Glenn was immediately at a disadvantage, being the smaller of the two – and Daryl clearly had been in more than his fair share of fist fights before. Maggie and Carol were shouting, telling them to knock it off. Daryl easily pinned Glenn and let loose a rain of punches. At this, Maggie ran at them, pushing at Daryl. It was enough of a distraction that Glenn was able to get in a punch of his own, knocking Daryl to the side. They scrambled to their feet, wiping at bloody noses. The respite only lasted a moment, and then Daryl launched himself at Glenn again.

"Get off him!" Maggie cried furiously, once again running to try to break it up.

"Maggie!" Addison called after her. She missed grabbing the girl's arm, so, seeing no other choice, she followed. Addison reached Maggie just in time to pull her back before Glenn's wildly swinging fists could knock her out. After that, Addison decided that enough was enough. She managed to grab a handful of Glenn's shirt and tugged him back before Daryl could land another blow.

She didn't see Daryl's fist coming at her.

Addison wished she would have seen stars, or even those silly birds spinning circles around her head; cartoons made getting hit look like a lot more fun than it really was. Instead, everything went black with dark purple spots for several moments and the voices around her sounded like she was hearing them with her head pinned between two thick pillows.

"Shit!" said Daryl's voice. Hands were helping her sit up. Addison blinked rapidly to try to clear her vision and the world slowly came back into focus. Daryl was several feet away, looking slightly more shocked than angry now. But the anger came back as soon as he saw her looking at him. "Shouldn't be stickin' your nose where it don't belong," he muttered. He glared at her for a second more and then stalked away.

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**Please let me know what you think! Love.**


	6. Chapter 6

**I would like to thank everyone who reviewed the last chapter! Seriously, it means a lot. If you haven't done so, please do! I really want to know what you think. And now, for your enjoyment, Chapter 6. :)**

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Addison's head was pounding.

"Daryl provoked him," she heard Lori saying. She assumed that someone had found Rick and Hershel. "She tried to break it up."

Sure enough, Hershel came around to kneel in front of Addison. He gently tilted her head up to look at her eyes. "Well, her pupils are reacting to the sunlight, so it doesn't look like there's a concussion." His hands moved to her nose, and Addison became aware of the slightly metallic smell of blood. "Just swollen," said Hershel, feeling along the bridge of her nose. He turned her head to the left and prodded at her right cheekbone. Addison hissed and dug her fingernails into her palms, resisting the urge to jerk away. "Looks like this got the worst of it. Bone bruise, I'd say. That'll be sore for a while." He turned to someone out of Addison's field of vision. "Beth, you and Carol go down to the creek and soak some of the washcloths. The water's cold enough that it might help a little with the swelling and the pain. Rick –" Hershel motioned for him to come over. "Let's get her to her tent." Addison felt a strong pair of arms lift her off the ground. She groaned as the movement jostled her head, worsening the steadily growing headache.

"Sorry," Rick said, and Addison felt him adjust his stride to keep from hurting her further. They ended up sitting Addison on a blanket outside her tent since Rick was unable to maneuver her inside without causing more pain.

Beth and Carol came back with the cold washcloths. Beth went to help Maggie with Glenn while Carol and Lori sat down next to Addison to clean her up. "Here," Carol said, gently pressing one of the cloths to Addison's cheek. "Hold that there until it's not cool anymore." Addison took it as Lori tilted her chin up to better clean her bloody nose.

"You really don't have to do that," Addison told her. "It'll be fine. Goes with the rest of the bloodstains."

Lori gave her half a smile. "He didn't mean it," she said, trading her washcloth for a clean one.

"What?" Addison asked, dropping her now-warm cloth on the blanket next to her.

"I mean, I don't know what's going on between you two, but as much as he appears to hate you, I know he would never hit you. He's not that kind of man. "Addison saw her glance quickly at Carol before she continued. "It was an accident."

Addison sighed. "Yeah. Though I don't doubt that he's _wanted_ to hit me – hell, I've wanted to give him a good kick or two. It's just – Why is he so…" Addison paused, struggling to find the right word. "So un-personable, I guess."

Lori and Carol shared a look, and then Carol said, "This group has been through a lot, and Daryl's been right in the middle of most of it." They had both stopped cleaning her up, and Addison sensed that she was about to get the gritty backstory of the group.

"Daryl had a brother, Merle," Lori began, piling the dirty washcloths together. "They were both a part of the group before Sh- Carl and I joined. Merle… well, Merle was an ass. He treated everyone like shit, including Daryl. He kept Daryl on a leash. If Daryl went hunting, Merle took whatever he brought back and kept it from the rest of the group.

"One day, a small group went on a supply run. At this time, we were camped outside of Atlanta. They got trapped. Merle was being his usual self, so Rick handcuffed him to the roof for the safety of everyone else. Then the situation got worse and they had to get out quick. But there was an accident, and the key to the cuffs got lost. They didn't have a choice; they had to leave Merle there."

At this, Addison's eyes widened. "They left him? I get that he was a piece of shit, but –"

Carol shook her head. "They couldn't risk the whole group. There was only one chance to make it out; they had to take it, even if it meant leaving Merle."

"Can't imagine Daryl was very happy about that."

"He wanted to kill T-Dog, who lost the key, and especially Rick because he cuffed Merle in the first place," Lori replied. "But they convinced Daryl that his brother was still alive and those three and Glenn went back for the son of a bitch, despite it being such a stupid idea. Well, as you might've guessed, Merle wasn't there. He escaped the cuffs and ran off."

"Ever since Daryl got out from Merle's shadow," Carol went on, "he's been different. You could tell he wanted to be part of the group once his brother wasn't around. And he was – is. He really stepped up and became a big contributor. As you've seen, he's the main food provider; we'd be living off berries and mushrooms if it wasn't for his hunting abilities. He became much more comfortable around the group, didn't try to distance himself."

Addison frowned. "Doesn't seem like that now. His tent's way off to the side and the only time he spends around the rest of us is when it's time to eat."

"It's because of what happened to my little girl, Sophia," Carol explained quietly, her eyes downcast. Addison bit her lip, guessing what probably happened, because there was no little girl named Sophia in the group now.

Lori reached over and squeezed Carol's hand. "We were escaping Atlanta. Camp had been attacked. A couple hours later, we hit a traffic snarl and couldn't get the cars through, so we had to stop. Out of nowhere, this huge herd of Walkers came through. We had to crawl under the cars to hide. Sophia thought – she thought that the coast was clear a minute too early. A couple of Walkers saw her getting up and chased her into the woods on the side of the highway. Rick went after her, but… he didn't come back with her. He said he told her to hide while he drew the Walkers away and to head back to the highway when they were out of sight. Somehow, she must have gotten turned around. Rick and Daryl went back in after her, but Daryl said her trail went cold, and there was no use trying to find her in the dark. The next day, a bunch of us went to search… but we still couldn't find her. We had to leave the highway in case any more Walkers were headed our way. We left a sign and supplies in case Sophia made it back after we left. The plan was to go back every day to check if she was there.

"We ended up staying at a farm – Hershel's. That's where we met them. It was like a safe haven." Lori paused, clearly missing the days when they didn't have to worry so much. "It didn't last, obviously. But while we were there, Daryl went out every day to search for Sophia. It was like he felt responsible or something. One day, he brought back her doll, and he nearly died trying. He refused to believe that he couldn't find her after that, like that doll was some sort of sign telling him he was close. Around that time, we also found out Hershel and his family had different beliefs when it came to Walkers. They viewed them as people who were just sick. They kept any Walkers they found in the barn – I know; none of us were comfortable once we found out," she added, seeing Addison's reaction. "Tensions ran pretty high. Some people wanted to kill them all, but Rick and a couple others wanted to keep the peace with Hershel. But…" Lori sighed, closing her eyes for a moment. "We had a hothead in the group. Shane. He and Rick were always arguing. He took it upon himself to break open the barn and shoot the Walkers. It was –"

"Terrible," Carol broke in, clenching her hands together in her lap. "They came out and met a firing squad led by Shane. Hershel and his family couldn't do anything but watch the people they knew and loved die… again. And when we thought it was all over, she –" Carol buried her face in her hands, unable to go on. Addison put an arm around the grieving woman's shoulders.

Lori took a deep breath. Her voice was shaking slightly as she took over for Carol. "Sophia came out of the barn. That's why Daryl could never find her. She had been bitten and turned, and then was found and put in the barn by Hershel's family. Rick… Rick ended it."

Addison pulled Carol closer. "I am so, so sorry," she whispered to keep her voice from breaking. She didn't know what else to say. There probably wasn't anything else to say.

Carol sniffed and pulled away, wiping at her eyes. "Daryl hasn't been the same since," she said, her voice thick. "He pulled away. I think he put so much pressure on himself to find her, and when… when it was all over, he became the old Daryl again. He distanced himself from the group, doesn't want to care about anyone anymore. It's not as bad as it was when his brother was around, but…" She sniffed again.

Addison bit her lip. "He thinks he failed. You said he basically made himself responsible for finding her, getting her back safe and sound. But when that didn't happen, he put himself under some sort of self-imposed solitary confinement. Maybe it's not that he doesn't want to care, but failing Sophia has made him seriously doubt his ability to help keep people safe…" Addison stopped, realization dawning.

Lori raised an eyebrow. "That's quite an understanding of someone you apparently hate."

Addison frowned. "I know it doesn't make sense. I don't get it myself, but… I get him."

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	7. Chapter 7

**Big thank you's to all you amazing readers who took a few seconds to review! I love seeing what you all think :) I have a feeling you will like what's coming in this chapter, so I'll shut up and you can get to it. Enjoy!**

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Addison heaved an irritated sigh. _Get him?_ The only thing to get was that she thought he was an asshole, and he thought she was a bitch. There was nothing more to it. _But now all of a sudden you get him? Girl, you are a piece of work._ She kicked a rock, sending it flying until it hit a tree trunk with a satisfying thud. Glancing behind her, she was happy to see that camp was no longer visible. She needed space to think. She came upon a large oak tree. Sizing up the trunk, Addison took several steps back, pulling out her knife, and, without really trying to aim, threw it at the tree. The throw went wide to the right by about four feet. Addison rolled her eyes at her sub-par abilities and went to search for the knife. She didn't want to admit that after getting Daryl's backstory, she could actually understand the man better now. They disliked each other basically on instinct. She wasn't supposed to understand him.

But now she did, and she couldn't undo it. She dug through the layers of dead leaves, knowing that with her throwing, the knife couldn't have gone far, as off target as it was. She'd been hoping a walk through the woods would give her some sort of epiphany on what to do now. But so far, she had nothing, and the sun was beginning to set. "Don't know if you're still around, or if you ever were, but I could really use a sign," Addison muttered to Whoever might still be listening, sparing a moment to glare at the sky above the treetops. A breeze shifted the leaves in the canopy above her, making the sun glint on something shiny half buried in a small mound of dirt and leaves. She stooped to pick up her knife, but it was caught. She kicked at the pile of dirt it was in. It clattered, like a pile of tent poles or something. Addison stared at the dirt and then gave it another nudge. The mound moved and clattered softly again. Addison squatted down for a better look.

It wasn't a pile of dirt. It was a dirt-encrusted bag, made of some sort of canvas-like material. Addison picked it up and untied the drawstring at one end. "Well. I asked for it." About a dozen arrows were inside. Addison took one out. It looked expensive, made of aluminum or carbon. She wasn't an expert, but she knew who would be. "Should've been asking for signs all along," she sighed, half amused. She put the arrow back in the bag and pulled the drawstring tight. Picking up her knife from where it had fallen out of the bag, Addison turned back toward camp.

The sun was half hidden by the horizon when she finally came out of the woods. She hadn't realized how far she had wandered. She picked up the pace, afraid that if she didn't make it back before nightfall, whoever was on watch might mistake her for a Walker and get trigger-happy. She walked back into camp as everyone was sitting down around the fire to eat. Addison quietly set down the bag of arrows next to her tent and then joined the circle. She glanced at Glenn as she sat down. One of his eyes had completely swollen shut, his upper lip was split, and bruises decorated his face. She then risked a peek at Daryl across the fire. He looked better than Glenn, but hadn't bothered to clean himself up. He had a pretty spectacular black eye, and she was willing to bet her cheek looked similar. He kept his eyes on his dinner, ignoring any of Carol's attempts to bring him into the conversation.

After a little while, he tossed his scraps in the fire and left, only pausing while passing Rick to mutter, "I'll take watch tonight."

Addison watched him leave, shouldering his crossbow.

…

An hour and a half later, Addison finally found herself to be the last one by the fire, which was now only a pile of glowing embers. She stood and dumped the bucket of dirt on top of the coals. After waiting a moment for her eyes to adjust to the sudden darkness, Addison went to her tent and picked up the bag of arrows. She made her way over to the cars, which were lined up end-to-end to form a barricade on one side of the camp. She knew Daryl liked to sit on top of the old red and white Suburban because it offered the highest vantage point.

Addison cleared her throat as she approached to make her presence known, wishing to avoid an arrow to the eye socket. Daryl turned a flashlight toward her and Addison was momentarily blinded. But she didn't have to see to know that he was scowling down at her.

"What do you want?"

Addison held up the bag. "Peace offering. May I?" she asked, indicating that she wanted permission to climb up.

Daryl stared at her for a moment. She had clearly thrown him for a loop. Finally, he shrugged, turning back to watching the open field beyond the camp, and Addison hoisted herself up.

"Here," she said, pushing the canvas bag to him. He raised an eyebrow at her, but took it. Daryl was silent as he opened the bag and saw the contents. "I went on a walk in the woods this afternoon, after – after everything," Addison explained to fill the silence. "I found that. Thought it would be a terrible waste to leave them when you could obviously use them. I don't know much about crossbows or arrows and stuff, but they look like really nice ones. Sorry about the hole in the bag. I was doing some target practice… but I missed the target." Addison bit her lip to stop the rambling. Daryl was looking at her, a hint of amusement in his expression.

"Not surprising," he said with a smirk. But his tone held none of the usual spite and irritation, and the smirk was more him being smartass than him being an asshole. Addison took this new development as his thanks.

"I also wanted to thank you – properly – for saving my ass the first time we met. It was rude of me not to do so right away. So, Daryl, thank you for keeping me from becoming a happy meal, as I believe you put it."

Addison had to give the man credit for how quickly he accepted this strange visit. "You're welcome," he said after a moment, taking out an arrow to inspect it.

"And –" Addison hesitated, wondering if she had already said enough. She ran the risk of looking like an even bigger idiot if she continued. Daryl put the arrow back in the bag and turned to her, waiting for her to go on.

Addison kept her eyes on her hands, picking at the paint on the top of the car. "I'm sorry for all the shit that's happened. The deer. And then the rest stop. Everything since joining the group. I'm… I'm not good with other people a lot of the time."

Daryl huffed and shook his head, looking back out over the field. "Then why'd you stay?"

Addison stared at his profile. If someone had told her she'd one day be having a civil conversation with Daryl Dixon, she probably would have laughed right in their face. The idea was inconceivable. Except here they were, doing just that. "I guess I got tired of being alone," she eventually replied. She started chewing on the thumbnail of her left hand.

"Being alone's not that bad," Daryl said distantly, still watching the dark field.

Addison shrugged. "I suppose. But being around others keeps you from going crazy." Daryl snorted at that. "Well, the talking-to-yourself, multiple-personality kind of crazy," Addison amended.

They fell into silence. Addison began to bite her nail again. A warm breeze blew across the field in front of them, rippling the long grass. From the way the full moon lit up the field, it looked like they were staring at the ocean.

"Well," Addison said quietly, interrupting the silence, "I'm gonna head off to bed. Have an uneventful watch," she added after a pause. Daryl nodded, sparing her a glance. Addison lowered herself onto the rear bumper of the Suburban and then jumped to the ground.

"Hey," Daryl grunted from behind her. Addison turned. "Sorry for punching you."

Addison gave a small smile. "Accidents happen. G'night, Daryl."

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**What did you think? Please let me know! Love.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Got a pretty decent-sized chapter for all you lovely readers today :) I know it's been a while since the last update, and I apologize. I'm hoping to get at least one more out before crunch time here at school really hits hard. But then I'll be back and ready to write more for you guys. So bear with me if it takes a little while for a new chapter, okay? I'm loving the support I'm getting from those of you who have reviewed, so please keep it up! Enjoy the latest chapter!**

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There was a perceptible change in the atmosphere in the camp, once Addison and Daryl had more or less resolved their issues with one another. Addison ceased correcting Daryl whenever he spoke, and he quit littering the area in front of her tent with animal scraps. The two were never less than civil when they had to interact with each other, though they didn't go out of their way to do so. Camp life became a relatively peaceful routine, everyone having their duties to do. Addison found herself helping Carol more and more with the housekeeping chores now that Lori's pregnancy was taking its toll. Addison hadn't even known Rick's wife was pregnant until she started to show, because she obviously wasn't gaining weight or anything like that, not on the insufficient supplies they scavenged.

Addison glanced over at Lori, who was popping some prenatal vitamins Glenn had found for her during a supply run. A baby in the camp complicated things. Any semblance of safety they had would be gone. A baby didn't know how to be quiet. It would draw every Walker in the area with its crying. Addison brushed a lock of dark blonde hair out of her eyes and continued to wash the dishes from dinner. They'd just have to cross that baby bridge when it came.

"Hey, Addison!" said a voice from behind her. She turned to see T-Dog walking up with a plate. "Am I too late?"

Addison smiled. "Nope, you're just in time. Toss it in." T-Dog put the plate in the lukewarm water and mussed her hair. Addison gasped in mock-indignation and then stuck her tongue out, earning a cheeky grin from T-Dog. "What're you up to, T?"

"Got watch tonight," T-Dog replied. "You seen Rick? Ammo for the rifle is runnin' low and I think he's got it."

Addison bit her lip, looking around. "Not since dinner. He might be out checking the perimeter with Daryl one last time." As soon as she had spoken, Rick and Daryl came around the rear of the green hatchback. T-Dog took one last chance to mess up Addison's hair before meeting Rick. Addison shook her head, smiling, and finished up the last of the dishes. Daryl walked past her and leaned against the tree a few feet away. Addison glanced up and saw him staring distantly at the woods that bordered one side of the camp about fifty feet out. He was chewing on his thumb, and Addison recognized it as a nervous habit of his. "What's wrong?" she asked.

Daryl didn't look at her, but sighed, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "Rick's got a bad feeling about this place."

"Feels like any other place we've stayed to me." Addison stood, wiping her hands dry on her jeans.

"That's what I told 'im. Seems he can't shake it though."

Addison frowned. "You think we should move, if he's that suspicious?"

"Dunno," Daryl shrugged. "Figure we're as safe here as anywhere."

"I suppose," Addison said, though 'safe' wouldn't be the word she'd use – 'just as likely to get killed' sounded a little more accurate. She suppressed a shiver, looking out over the trees in the distance. "And here I was, thinking I'd get some sleep tonight before watch duty at dawn."

"Better go try then," Daryl mumbled, and went back to chewing on his thumb.

Addison nodded, using her foot to tip over the plastic tub full of dirty dish water. She picked up the dishcloth and the tub, nodding once more to Daryl before she went to her tent.

…

The first thing Addison was aware of was a whole lot of shouting. The inside of her tent was still nearly pitch-black, so it wasn't time for her to go on watch yet. More shouting, and this time her sleep-fogged brain recognized it as T-Dog. Rick's voice then joined in, and suddenly it seemed the whole camp was awake. Addison quickly pulled on her boots and grabbed her hunting knife before running out to see what was going on.

"It's the biggest motherfucking herd I've ever seen!" T-Dog was yelling as he jumped down from the Suburban. "Four dozen, at least!"

Addison jolted to a stop. The camp was about to be overrun, and suddenly her knife felt like it might as well have been a pillow for all the good it would do against a herd of Walkers that big. She forced her legs to move again to where the group was gathering.

"Lori, I want you and Beth to get in the hatchback," Rick was saying as Addison got closer. "If it gets bad, you get out of here – no arguments." Lori looked pissed and Addison could tell she had plenty that she wanted to argue about. Rick's eyes pleaded with his wife and she finally relented, taking Beth's hand and pulling her over to the car. Rick ran a hand over his face and turned to the rest of the group. "Line formation defense. They're only coming from one side, so if we space ourselves out, we should be able to handle it. Let's go!"

Addison watched as everyone checked and cocked their guns. "Shit," she muttered, staring at the stupid knife in her hand. Suddenly, someone had a hold of her upper arm, pulling her towards the fight. She looked up and saw Daryl, who shoved a black handgun into her free hand.

"We need everyone on this," he said. "Just get it back to me afterward."

Addison nodded, unable to speak. Daryl planted her in the line and then went off to his own spot about eight or nine feet to her right. Addison took a deep, shaky breath and watched as the shadows in front of the tree line lurched closer. She checked the gun and flicked the safety off. Nobody talked. Even the insects in the tall grass were silent. But that only meant that they could clearly hear the Walkers approaching, their guttural growls savage and hungry. Addison bit her lip, waiting for Rick's command when the Walkers came into range. She only had to wait another minute until she heard Rick's shout from the far end of the line to her left.

The dawn was filled with the deafening sound of gunfire.

Excited by the all the noise, the Walkers had picked up their pace, and now Addison could see individuals. She swung her gun over to her next target, hitting it in the shoulder before landing a shot to its forehead. Next target, two chest shots, then the kill shot. Next, instant kill.

Minutes dragged on like hours. In the light of the rising sun, she could see that there were more fallen bodies than walking ones. They were actually going to win this. She glanced over toward Daryl, who was taking out the last few Walkers in front of them with lethal accuracy. She watched the Walkers drop one by one, and looked to the next one that was about to receive its fate.

And then Addison was running.

Daryl leveled his shotgun at the Walker just as Addison reached him. She grabbed it and pushed the barrel up a half a second before Daryl fired, nearly going deaf in the process.

"What the fuck?!" she heard him roar over the ringing in her ears. She put herself between Daryl's shotgun and the Walker, her back to Daryl. He grabbed her shoulder, roughly trying to pull her out of the way. Addison shook him off, fumbling for the handgun. She could barely focus on the Walker in front of her, and she realized it was because tears were welling up. She blinked furiously to clear her vision. She raised her gun, trying to steady her hands. She could still feel Daryl's hand on her shoulder, but he wasn't trying to stop her anymore; she figured he had seen the tears.

"I'm so sorry," Addison whispered as the Walker staggered closer. "I love you." She pulled the trigger. The bullet hit the Walker's neck, sending a spray of dark blood into the air. Addison choked back a sob. She wiped at her eyes and forced her trembling hands still. This time, she exhaled slowly before squeezing the trigger. The Walker dropped, a hole where its right eye had been. Addison felt all her energy leave her in a rush and she fell to the ground, staring unseeingly at the gun in her hand. Daryl was silent behind her. The last of the shots rang out, echoing in the still morning air. The voices of the others reached them as everyone tiredly congratulated each other on a job well done.

Addison didn't want to be congratulated. This was not a victory. She stood, keeping her eyes on the ground, and turned to go back to camp, pausing only a moment to give Daryl back his gun. He took it without a word, stepping out of her way.

When Addison got back to her tent, she began to pack up her belongings, knowing that they would have to move in case there were more Walkers around that heard the shooting.

…

Two hours later, the group had arrived at their new location. It was an expansive house set on the side of a large, tree-covered hill. The area was so secluded that the initial scouting group of Rick, Daryl, T-Dog and Glenn only had to take out a single Walker. When they came back out, Rick announced that they would be staying there for the next few days. The morale of the group increased noticeably at this news. The thought of actual beds brought smiles to everyone's faces as they excitedly unpacked the cars. Addison brought up the rear, slinging her backpack, a spare from Lori, over her shoulder.

The mansion had an earthy smell, due to the leaves and dirt blown in through the cracks in unlocked windows, of which there were plenty, so despite being in the middle of a forest, the house was well-lit by the sunlight that filtered down through the branches and leaves.

Addison climbed the wide, curving staircase that rose out of the main foyer, trailing a finger through the thick layer of dust on the railing. She could hear Beth and Carl running around from room to room on the second floor. Stepping up onto the second floor landing, Addison looked to the right. She saw Carl dart out of one room and into another across the hall, Beth two steps behind. Maggie pulled Glenn into a room at the end of the hall. Carol and Lori could be heard chatting in the closest room, presumably making the bed.

T-Dog came up the stairs behind her. "Gonna be sleepin' good tonight!" he cheered, doing a little happy dance when he reached the top of the stairs. Addison had to smile as he shooed Beth and Carl out of the room he wanted. Hershel called Beth over to the next room, asking her to help make the beds.

Addison heard Rick and Daryl taking stock of what was left in the kitchen downstairs. She turned left, taking a room at the far end of the hall, away from the rest of the group.

The room had been a guest room, if Addison had to guess. It was clean, with no personal items decorating the top of the vanity or desk. It had a mahogany wardrobe against the wall to the left and a queen-sized bed on the opposite wall, centered under a large four-paned window with yellowing lace curtains. Addison entered, shutting the door behind her, and sat on the bed, bouncing up and down a couple times to see how soft it was; not that it mattered, since any kind of mattress beat sleeping on the ground.

She took off her backpack and unzipped it to pull out her sleeping bag. The sheets looked nice enough, but Addison wasn't about to chance getting in between the covers with a bunch of creepy-crawlies. She stood up and stripped the bed down to the floral-patterned mattress, and then spread her sleeping bag over it. The afternoon sun cast a reddish glow into the room.

Unbidden, the tears began to fall.

**-0-**

**My goal is to get the next one out this weekend. If you drop a review, the chances of that happening increase dramatically :) Love.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Look at what getting your wonderful reviews does: I update the very next day! Unfortunately, I'm about 90% sure that this will be the last update for a little bit now. I have finals that I can't ignore any longer. Boo. But I'm hoping I'll be back and writing by the 15th. But for now, please enjoy Chapter 9!**

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Footsteps stopped outside the door. Addison was lying on the bed, her back to the door. There was a soft knock and the door creaked open. "She's asleep," she heard Maggie whisper to someone. The door creaked again and shut with a quiet thump. Addison continued to stare at the wall in front of her. Downstairs, she could hear everyone gathering for dinner, chairs scraping against the wooden floor. She knew she should go down and eat – she hadn't eaten since dinner the night before – but she didn't have an appetite. All she could see was a hole being drilled into the Walker's eye.

Will's eye.

She rubbed at her own eyes, which felt dry and itchy. The tears had stopped a couple hours ago.

_He was already gone_, she tried to convince herself. _That wasn't him you shot. Given half a chance, he – it – would have tried to rip you apart._ Addison burrowed her head into her sleeping bag. None of that mattered. She couldn't separate the Walker from her brother. It used to be him; that's all there was to it.

…

The last time she had seen her brother alive, he was surrounded and shouting at her to leave him. She hadn't wanted to run away, but her body was on autopilot. She had heard his screams, but kept going. Addison had held on to the foolish belief that he would make it out, just as he had made it out of the fight with Toby and Brian, the two neighborhood boys who always picked on Addison when she was little.

_They didn't like that Will stood up for her, and jumped him one day as he was walking her home from school. He told her to run, and she did, all the way home. She stood on the couch for half an hour, face pressed to the window, waiting for her brother to return. He finally did, limping and bloody and bruised. Addison met him at the door, throwing herself at him. He hugged her close, even though it probably hurt. "Everything's okay, Addi. They won't bother you again."_

"_I thought you weren't gonna come back," eight-year-old Addison sniffled._

"_I'll always come back, Addi."_

But he hadn't come back, not the day she lost him. Addison had waited at the safehouse for three days. She barely slept, sitting in the upstairs bedroom at the window, watching and waiting. After the third day, she knew she had to move, Will or no Will. It was dangerous to stay somewhere for too long. She stuffed her belongings into her pack. While trying to figure out what to do with the food – whether or not to leave some for Will in case he came back – Addison looked out the window and saw him.

But he was wrong. His clothes were ripped and covered in dried blood. His skin was grey. He shuffled down the front walk, dragging his left foot behind him. Even from that distance, Addison could see multiple bite marks that had torn chunks out of his neck, arms, and torso.

Addison panicked, and began shoving as much of the food in her pack as possible. Her eyes landed on the handgun on the kitchen table. She shouldered her pack and grabbed the gun, running to the kitchen door and wrenching it open. Will was about twenty feet away, and as soon as he saw her, he snarled, his gnarled hands clawing out to her. Addison raised the gun, putting his head in the sights. Her pulse beat loudly in her ears, each breath ragged. She stood there, frozen, as her brother staggered closer.

She couldn't do it.

So, naturally, she ran, leaving her brother far behind.

…

Addison hadn't seen him since the safehouse, over seven months ago. She always kept moving, afraid that if she stopped, he would catch up. It was bad enough that he haunted her dreams. She became very good at running. If any Walkers came around the area she was in, she wouldn't stay long enough to really see them, much less fight. The fear that one of them would be Will was enough to keep her going.

She rolled on to her back. The sun had already set, and now the room was dimly lit by thin shafts of moonlight. As she pulled a small battery-powered lantern from her backpack and turned it on, Addison heard everyone climbing up the stairs and bidding each other goodnight. Doors shut one by one, and the house was silent. After a minute, she heard footsteps coming down her end of the hall. They came to a stop outside her door and someone knocked.

Addison sighed. "Come in," she said softly, half-hoping they wouldn't hear her. They had, though, and the door creaked open. Addison's brow crinkled in confusion. "Daryl?" He looked a little uncomfortable, but stepped into the room anyway. Addison sat up and ran a hand through her tangled hair, vaguely wishing she didn't look like a complete mess.

He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back against the doorframe. "You okay?"

Addison snorted, pulling her knees up to her chest. "Just peachy."

Daryl nodded, as if he had expected that kind of answer. "Who was it?" He didn't need to explain what he meant.

Addison pressed her lips together, looking away from him. Her nose tingled, but no tears would come, and that was a worse feeling than actually crying.

Daryl came further into the room, pulled out the wooden desk chair, and sat down. He didn't quite relax into the chair, clearly in territory he was unfamiliar with. But he didn't look like he was going to back out either, now that he was there.

Addison looked at his boots, unable to meet his gaze. "My brother." She rubbed at her nose, trying to get rid of the tingling feeling, hyper-aware of Daryl's eyes on her.

He sighed. "That's rough." He fidgeted in the chair for a moment. "What was his name?"

This made Addison look up at him. The man before her wasn't the Daryl she knew. For some unfathomable reason, he had come to her room to talk to her about what had happened earlier that morning. She wanted to say, _You don't have to do this_. But Addison realized that she wanted to talk. She had been alone for so long, unable to talk to anyone about what haunted her guilty mind. "Will. His name was Will. He was my big brother, by four years. He took care of me – I mean, I had a mom, but she was always sick, and I never knew my father." Addison had no idea why she was spilling her life story to this man she hardly knew and just barely got along with. But now that she had started, she found she couldn't stop herself. "We stuck together when the world went to hell. Honestly, I'm not sure how we survived for as long as we did. Neither of us had any sort of weapon training. We just sort of… figured it out on the go, I guess. Will caught on pretty quickly, so he did a lot of the defense. I was the fast one, so he'd stand guard while I raided stores and houses for supplies." Addison twirled a loose thread from her sleeping bag around her index finger, allowing a sad smile. "We made a good team."

"Sounds like a good man," Daryl observed, nodding approvingly.

"The best. He was always looking out for me. That's how… that's why… I lost him." Addison bit her lip, forcing herself to keep it together in front of Daryl. Her voice trembled slightly as she continued, "I got surrounded. I was going to check out a house, but the street in front of it was overrun. So I decided to hop the back fence and go in that way. It was my fault. I got cornered almost right away. The people must have owned a dog; when I jumped over, I landed right on a squeaky toy. Got the attention of every goddamn Walker in the street. Will was watching, though. He came to the rescue right away, knowing my shooting skills were shit. He and I took out enough of them to let me get out. The i-idiot let his guard down… didn't see them coming from behind. Next thing I know, he's being swarmed and yelling at me to run. A-and… I d-did!" The words all came quickly now. "I just l-left him there to a fate worse than death! It's my fault he became one of them – I was a coward! If I hadn't tried to get into that stupid house, he'd still be alive. And what's worse? I couldn't even finish the job. He found the safehouse we'd been staying in. I should have put a bullet through his head right then, but I froze. He was my brother, for Christ's sake. I mean, I know he wasn't, not really, but… So. I ran. I ran away like I always do. That was the last time I saw him, until today."

Daryl looked at her, with something in his expression that Addison couldn't quite place. "You didn't run today."

Addison shook her head. "When I saw him, and you… I had to be the one to end it. Should have a long time ago."

"You've had it rough," Daryl shrugged.

"We all have."

Daryl nodded at that. They sat in silence for several minutes, each thinking about what they had lost. Finally, Daryl stood and went over to Addison. "Try to get some sleep tonight," he said, gently laying a hand on her shoulder. Addison blinked, bewildered at this small show of compassion. She found herself nodding. Daryl gave her shoulder a quick squeeze before walking out, shutting the door behind him.

Addison tried to ignore the warmth flooding her cheeks as she kicked off her boots and socks and slipped between the folds of her sleeping bag, reaching over to switch off the lantern.

**-0-**

**All right, I will talk to you lovely people again soon! As always, please let me know what you think! Love.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Hi! I hope you all didn't mind the wait too much. This took a little longer than I wanted it to, but it was a while before I was able to look at a Word document again. Papers are evil. Bad, bad papers. But now I'm pretty much all done with finals, so the waits shouldn't be as long! …. For now. Next semester is a whole other basket of something. But we'll see. I'll shut up so you can read. Enjoy!**

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Addison didn't sleep that night, but that didn't surprise her. She hadn't expected to. Not that it mattered anyway; she didn't have to be sleeping to be plagued by the nightmarish images brought forth from the fight. Addison was relieved when the first light of dawn began to illuminate her room. She threw back the top layer of her sleeping bag and swung her legs over the side of the bed, stretching her arms up over her head. Then she stood, lightly dancing in place as her bare feet became accustomed to the chill wood floor. She quietly padded out to the hall and down the stairs. Someone, probably Carol, had swept up the worst of the debris. Turning to the left, Addison found the kitchen. On the black stone counter, a rather impressive heap of canned food had been stacked, sorted into small piles depending on the contents. She picked up a can of peach slices, opened the pull tab, and took it with her as she explored the rest of the house.

On the right, attached to the kitchen via a large open doorway, was the dining room. An expensive-looking mahogany table stood in the middle, swept clean of the dust that covered most of the rest of the furnishings in the room, like the china cabinet and shelving. The group had obviously eaten here last night. Going right again, Addison pushed open one side of a pair of glass doors. This room was already beginning to be lit with the first rays of sunlight streaming in through the wall-sized window set into the wall of the back of the building. There was an overstuffed couch against the wall opposite the window, between two cushioned lounge chairs. A black iron-wrought, glass-top coffee table sat a few feet in front of the couch. This room hadn't been touched, other than by the initial scouting group, whose footprints scuffed through the thick layer of dust that coated everything. As Addison explored the last two rooms, the library and the office, it was clear that the group hadn't made it past the kitchen and dining room last night. Addison exited the office and found that she had circled back to the foyer. She fished another peach out of the can with her fingers and slurped it up, licking the sweet juice off her chapped lips before it could drip down her chin and create a mess.

A bedroom door opened somewhere upstairs. Addison wasn't sure if she as ready to face someone already, but it was too late to retreat back into the office. She let out a quite sigh of relief when she saw Daryl come down the stairs. He nodded to her when he reached the bottom.

"Saw you were up. Was gonna tell you to get something to eat if you thought you could handle it."

Addison gave him a small smile. "It's going well so far."

Daryl nodded again, and after a moment of awkward silence, he went into the kitchen. Addison retraced her steps and went back into the sunroom. Lightly kicking a couch cushion, she wrinkled her nose at all the dust that flew up into the air. Addison set her can of peaches down on the coffee table and then flipped the cushion over. She sat down carefully, not wanting to send another plume into the air. Addison pulled her knees up to her chest and watched the leaves of the trees outside the window dance in the morning breeze. She heard Daryl picking up and setting down cans as he decided what he wanted for breakfast. His footsteps came through the dining room and he entered the sunroom, an open can of pears in his hand.

"I'd flip the cushion if I were you," Addison warned as he approached the lounge chair to her right. Daryl heeded the warning and flipped the cushion before settling back into the chair. Addison rested her chin on her knees. They sat in the comfortable, early morning silence.

The next thing Addison was aware of were the thumps of people waking up and walking around upstairs. She rubbed her eyes and then glanced at Daryl, embarrassed that she had fallen asleep. Addison bit her lip to keep from laughing when she saw that he had fallen asleep too. She picked up her empty can from the coffee table and Daryl's from the floor next to the lounge chair and brought them out to the kitchen, putting them on the counter with the rest of the garbage from the previous night's dinner.

The first person down the stairs was Rick. He came into the kitchen and smiled when he saw Addison. "Good to see you up and about," he greeted her.

Addison smiled back. "Yeah. Yesterday was a bit rough."

Rick came over and squeezed her shoulder. "I heard," he said softly, "Daryl told me."

Addison looked down at her bare feet. She wasn't mad at Daryl. Out of everyone, it made sense to tell Rick, if only to explain why she had kept to herself all day. As the leader, he should be aware of what the other members of the group had going on, for the safety of the whole group. "Does anyone else know?" she asked, looking back up at him.

Rick shook his head. "Didn't think anyone else needed to know."

Addison nodded, relieved. She didn't think she could handle the looks of pity that she knew would be sent her way if the whole group knew that she had had to kill her brother-turned-Walker.

"Also –" Rick stopped as Carol came into the kitchen, murmuring a greeting to the two of them. He motioned for Addison to follow him out of the kitchen and out to the foyer. "Let's take a little walk." Addison ran up to her room to throw on her boots and then ran down again and followed him out the doors. They walked in silence for a few minutes, putting a bit of distance between them and the house. Rick kept a hand close to his gun as they went. They came upon a clearing that opened out over a valley full of trees. Rick and Addison spent a few moments taking in the sight as the sun slowly rose higher. "I hope we get to stay here for a while," Rick finally said.

"It's beautiful, peaceful," Addison agreed.

Rick turned to her. "So. After Daryl told me what happened, he pitched an idea to me. I think it's a great idea, but it's up to you." Addison began to chew on her thumbnail, waiting. "He pointed out to me that you haven't had much training with a gun. We think it'd be a good idea for someone to teach you."

Addison's brow furrowed. "Who?"

Rick ran a hand through his hair. "Well," he began, seeming unsure of answering for some reason. "Daryl's offered."

Addison understood Rick's hesitation now. The offer from Daryl was unusual, given his natural avoidant behavior – and even more so given the history between him and Addison. She had heard that some of the group learned to shoot through lessons from Rick, but Daryl was already a master marksman when he and his brother joined the group. He had never bothered to go to any of Rick's shooting lessons.

When Addison didn't respond, Rick continued, "But I understand if you don't want to take it. I would be happy to teach you myself if you'd prefer."

Addison looked out over the valley as she weighed her options. She knew she would feel more at ease with Rick, and the lessons would certainly be much less awkward. Logically, she knew she should accept his offer. But… Daryl's offer intrigued her. The fact that he offered at all, really. Somehow, it wasn't even a question. She looked back at Rick. "I think I'll take Daryl up on his offer. Should be interesting, at the very least."

Rick studied her for a moment and then nodded. "If it doesn't work out, just let me know and I'll teach you."

Addison smiled and they turned around and headed back to the house. As they got closer, a thought occurred to Addison. "Do you want to tell Daryl or should I?"

"Tell me what?" said a gruff voice in front of them.

"That you're gonna be teaching me to shoot," Addison answered without missing a beat. Daryl stared for just a second before looking over at Rick.

"Lori's lookin' for you," he told Rick, who sighed and nodded his thanks before leaving the other two.

Addison raised an eyebrow at Daryl. "So. When do we start?"

Daryl smirked. "What are you so gung-ho for?"

Addison shrugged. "No time like the present, right?" She hoped he wouldn't notice that her hands were shaking. Truth be told, she was scared – terrified, even. But maybe, just maybe, shooting lessons would help keep the nightmares at bay and she might get some sleep.

Daryl rolled his eyes. "Better get the guns and some extra ammo. We'll take a car and go ten or so miles out." He led the way back to the house. Once inside, Daryl went to get the supplies from Rick while Addison packed them both some food and water, not knowing how long they'd be out.

…

Addison had the map out, looking for a good place to stop. "Here, what about this nature conservancy? It's a few miles off the main highway." She turned the map so Daryl could see it. He nodded his approval and Addison watched out the window for signs for their exit.

A little over ten minutes later, they pulled into an overgrown gravel parking lot next to a wooden sign with faded yellow paint reading 'AMICALOLA HIKING TRAIL'. Daryl got out first, scanning the area with a practiced eye. Determining the area safe, he motioned for Addison to get out and take one of the bags. The two followed the trail in silence, Daryl with his crossbow held up, ready should they need it. Addison kept her knife in hand, hoisting the food bag higher on her shoulder. They stopped at a small open field of grass that had a few trees growing up here and there. Daryl set down the supply bag and opened it, taking out the black handgun he had given her before. He checked the magazine before putting it back in. Addison frowned as he did all of this in silence. Daryl hadn't said a word to her for the past twenty minutes, at least. She was beginning to think that she should have taken Rick's offer when Daryl walked over to her with the gun. Addison's breathing quickened just slightly as he positioned himself right next to her, and she forced herself to pay attention to what he was saying, not to how close he was.

"Pull it back like this to cock it. Make sure the safety's off, though. That's this here," he explained, pointing to a little lever on the side. "Then point and shoot." He handed the gun to her.

Addison snorted. "That easy, is it?"

Daryl smirked and pointed at a fat tree trunk about fifteen feet away. "That's your first target. We'll start off easy."

Addison tried to ignore the feeling of his eyes on her as she brought the gun up to point at the tree. She took a deep breath in and pulled the trigger. A spray of dirt flew up well behind the tree. Addison bit her lip and glanced over at Daryl. He was staring at the place her shot had hit, his expression slightly incredulous. He ran a hand over his face and looked at her, raising an eyebrow. "You got a lot of learnin' to do."

**-0-**

**Disclaimer: I know jack about guns. If I get something wrong, just let it slide. They aren't the point of the story. Also, the hiking trail exists. I've never been there, and Google Maps just shows a lot of trees, so I'm taking some creative liberties and making it look the way I want it. I hope you all enjoyed the return of A&A. Please let me know what you think! Love.**


	11. Chapter 11

**I'd like to take a moment to thank Mrs. Alexandra-Hale, FanFicGirl10, and Emberka-2012 for being the most loyal reviewers a girl could have! I absolutely love getting your feedback :) Please enjoy the new chapter, everyone!**

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They were almost four hours into the shooting lesson. Addison loaded a full magazine into the gun, the motion practically automatic now. She cocked the gun and then exhaled slowly and squeezed the trigger. An explosion of bark burst out from a skinny tree trunk, just right of center.

"Better," Daryl approved from behind her. "You learn quick."

Addison ducked her head and smiled at his praise. It had been difficult to earn.

_The first hour, she could feel his frustration with her grow and grow until he had finally snapped, yanking the gun out of her hand and emptying the magazine into the tree she had been trying to hit, dead center. _

"_How hard is that?" he had shouted, thrusting the gun and a new magazine into her hands._

"_We can't all be naturals, Daryl!" Addison had shouted back, shoving the new ammo in. "Why do I even need to learn this? I'm better with a knife," she added, her irritation and frustration getting the better of her._

_Daryl's eyes narrowed. "Because we need you to," he hissed. "If there's another herd like that, the more people able to shoot, the better chance we got to survive. And the way you shoot is a waste of ammo."_

_Addison pointed to the tree. "Right, because _that_ wasn't a waste." She saw Daryl's arm tense and was sure he would haul off and punch her. She took a deep breath and tried a different tactic. "Look, I'm trying, okay? I want to be better at this," she said gently. "I want to be an asset to the group. It's just gonna take time. I get that it's frustrating to someone who's as good as you. Some of us just aren't as good at 'point and shoot' as others."_

_Daryl ran a hand over his face. "Come 'ere." Addison hesitated for a second before going to him. He turned her around to face the tree. He adjusted the angle of her shoulders. "Square up to your target. Makes it easier. Now, bring the gun up." She did as he said and his hand reached out to cover hers, his chest pressing against her back. She could feel his strong, steady heartbeat against her shoulder blade. She had had to bite her lip in an effort to focus on the lesson. "Put your other hand underneath here," Daryl instructed, reaching around to position her free hand under the one holding the gun. Addison could feel her cheeks burning, and she hoped Daryl wouldn't notice how embarrassingly red they were. "Now," he said in her ear, "instead of just pullin' the trigger, squeeze it."_

"_Aren't those the same thing?" Addison wondered._

_Daryl shook his head and his chin bumped into the side of Addison's head. "Pullin' jerks the gun too much and you'll miss your target. Squeezin' is slower and gives you more control."_

"_Got it," Addison nodded. At that, Daryl pulled away, and despite the rising afternoon temperature, she felt a chill run down her spine. She took a deep breath to refocus herself and looked down the barrel at the tree. As she exhaled, she squeezed. The bullet skimmed the left side of the tree, shooting forth a small shower of bark splinters._

"_Again," Daryl said from behind her._

And three hours later, she had only missed a couple times at the furthest trees.

Addison rolled her shoulders a few times to work out the tense muscles. The sun had passed its peak, and although it wasn't as hot as it had been the previous week, Addison could feel her shirt sticking to her back. She looked over at Daryl, who was absently playing with the crossbow's strap on his shoulder, and was a bit miffed to see that he didn't seem to be even a bit uncomfortable. Granted, he hadn't had the pressure of hitting targets on him for the past four hours.

When he noticed her looking, he stopped fiddling with the strap and surveyed the group of damaged trees. "I think we've gotten pretty far for one day. Let's head back." Addison nodded in agreement and he went to retrieve the bags. Addison flicked the safety on and tucked the gun in her back pocket as she waited for Daryl.

"Shit!"

Addison whipped around and saw Daryl swinging the crossbow off his shoulder. A Walker had appeared out of nowhere, no doubt drawn to them by the four hours of gunfire. It could already smell them and was picking up speed, only about thirty feet from Daryl.

Before she was even conscious of it, the gun was in her hand, leveled at the Walker. "Duck!" she shouted, and Daryl dropped automatically. Next thing she knew, Addison was staring over the barrel of the gun that was pointing at the empty space where the Walker had stood. She ran forward past Daryl, who made a grab for her that she twisted away from. Ten feet from the Walker, Addison slowed, bringing the gun up again. As she got closer, Addison saw the bullet hole that pierced the Walker's left brow.

Then Daryl was pulling her back behind him. When he saw there was no immediate danger, he took a closer look at the body. "Holy shit," he said.

"Did I pass the class?" Addison asked, unable to keep the satisfaction out of her voice.

"Pretty near. Wouldn't hurt to practice a few more times though. You probably just got lucky," he smirked.

"Pfft, you'd've been a chew toy if it hadn't been for my skill," Addison countered, grinning widely.

Daryl shook his head, his smirk turning into a grin of his own. "Whatever." He pushed her forward, away from the Walker and towards their bags. Addison could barely contain the silly urge to skip down the path all the way back to the car.

…

During dinner, Addison noticed how relaxed the atmosphere was. This house practically radiated a feeling of safety. People were smiling over their canned dinners as they talked. While she and Daryl had been out, the cushions and chairs in the sunroom had been beaten free of dust, so dinner was held in soft comfort, something that was a luxury now. Curled up on the floor, leaning against the couch, Addison closed her eyes. For a moment, she could almost believe that the end of the world had never happened.

A knee nudged her shoulder. Addison opened her eyes and looked up to see Daryl giving her a questioning look. "You okay?" he asked quietly. Addison smiled and nodded. Satisfied with that, Daryl turned back to listening to the conversation between Rick and T-Dog about setting up a watch. T-Dog volunteered and Rick nodded.

Slowly, the room began to empty as the group retired to their rooms. Addison was one of the last left, with Daryl and T-Dog. Two battery-powered lanterns lit up the sunroom. Rick had decided that all blinds and curtains should be shut at nightfall to keep the lights from drawing any unwanted attention, despite how secluded they were. When Addison yawned for the fifth time in two minutes, she decided to call it a night. She waved goodnight to the men and made her way through the dark house and up the stairs to her room with a flashlight. In the dim light, she stripped down to her tank top and changed her jeans for a pair of frayed boys' basketball shorts, pilfered from a Wal-Mart at the beginning of the end. She crawled into her sleeping bag and turned off the flashlight.

…

It was dark. Addison could barely see her hand in front of her face. The hall seemed to stretch on forever, but that was probably because she was going so slowly, her hand keeping contact with the wall to her left. She finally reached the staircase and was three steps down when she heard a clatter of cans from the kitchen. It sounded like someone had knocked several of the empty ones to the floor. She descended the rest of the stairs, wishing she had thought to grab the flashlight. She hadn't thought it would be so dark.

Addison finally found the entrance to the kitchen and felt her way along the counter. She accidentally kicked the pile of cans that had been knocked over, making herself jump. She took a moment to calm down. There was a thump from the sunroom.

"T-Dog?" Addison called out softly. There was no response. As she walked carefully through the dining room, she could hear heavy breathing from the sunroom. She wondered if T-Dog had fallen asleep in there, but corrected herself, knowing he was more responsible than that. It was still dark as pitch in the sunroom, so Addison felt her way to the wall-window and grabbed the curtain, pulling it open to allow the moonlight in.

The Walker sensed her before she saw it, and lunged over the coffee table, growling savagely. Addison cried out in shock and fumbled for the gun at her hip. She swung it up as the Walker fell on her. Pushing at the rotting body with her feet to keep it away, Addison pulled the trigger. A choked click. The gun was jammed. The Walker clawed at her face, missing by inches, and she mustered her strength and shoved with her legs, propelling the Walker back over the coffee table with a sickening thud. Unfazed, it got back up, advancing once again. Addison tried cocking the gun and pulled the trigger again. Another choked click. It was no use. Addison sprang up and turned to ran toward the library on the other side of the sunroom.

Another Walker appeared. She was cornered.

The new Walker forced her back. Its face became lit by a shaft of moonlight. Will's jaws gnashed hungrily at her.

Addison screamed.

Hands were grabbing her, and she struggled with everything she had to fight them off.

"Addison!"

Her eyes snapped open.

She was in her room, on her bed. There were still hands on her arms, but they belonged to Daryl, who was standing over her. His crossbow was on the end of the bed. Addison took several deep, shaky breaths and pushed herself up to a sitting position.

"Nightmare," she groaned, rubbing her face with a hand.

"Some nightmare. Your screamin' woke up the whole house," Daryl said. "What was it about?"

Addison looked down at her hands in her lap. "Will," she whispered.

Daryl sighed. "That's all over," he told her. "You got nothin' to worry about."

"I thought the lessons would help," she said quietly. "Like if I knew how to use a gun… I don't know. Didn't work, obviously."

"Just give it time," Daryl said. "You okay now?" Addison bit her lip. She knew it was a nightmare, as vivid as it had been. Nothing could happen to her. She opened her mouth to tell him she was okay.

"Could you stay tonight?"

Daryl looked as taken aback at the request as Addison felt once it slipped out. Addison prepared herself for his 'no', but was surprised when he nodded. He pulled the desk chair up to the foot of the bed, next to his crossbow. "Get some sleep now," he said, grabbing his bow and setting it in his lap. She lay back down, pulling the sleeping bag up to her chin. In the dim light of the moon that shone through the window above the bed, she could see Daryl, appearing as if he was standing guard over her, keeping the nightmares at bay with that crossbow of his.

From the first time they had met, she realized, this man had been protecting her. Most of the time, he was protecting the entire group as well, but that still included her. She had a feeling that if he really didn't care to, she could have easily been Walker food by now. But recently, he seemed to be putting more effort into keeping her safe – just her, not the whole group. It started after the Walker attack, after she killed Will. He was the one that came into her room to see if she was okay and to listen to her story. Then he had been the one to suggest shooting lessons and even offered to teach her himself when they both knew Rick was more than qualified to do so. Even by teaching her to shoot, he was protecting her. And then tonight. He was the one that had come into the room, though she had apparently woken everyone. He came with his crossbow, fully prepared to fight off what he probably had thought was a Walker that had somehow gotten in. Now he was sitting there, protecting her from her own nightmares. She knew she was probably reading into his actions too much, but…

There was a funny feeling starting in her stomach. The more she thought about Daryl, the stronger it became. She could feel her cheeks beginning to grow hot and ducked her head further into the sleeping bag, certain that even in the dark, her flushed face could be seen. She squeezed her eyes shut, but it was no use; she had the thought and now it was stuck in her head.

_I like Daryl Dixon._

**-0-**

**I'm so sorry for the inexcusable lateness of this chapter. I've had the worst writer's block on the face of the planet. This chapter might not have been that great, and that'd be because I had to force a lot of it.. Please let me know what you thought! Love.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Thanks to all of you fantastic reviewers, both newbies and regulars! I loved getting all that feedback! Some of my confidence in the last chapter has been restored, thanks to you! Enjoy the new one!**

**-0-**

The following nights were all the same. She would lie in bed and fight off sleep until she could no longer keep her eyes open. Then the nightmare would begin, the same one every time. The second and third nights, she thrashed through the entire thing before Daryl came to wake her up. It was always him.

"Is there a reason that no one else comes to snap me out of it?" she finally asked as he settled into his customary position in the desk chair.

Daryl shrugged, apparently very interested in the floorboard in front of him. "Told them I'd take care of it," he muttered. "Go to sleep."

Addison hid her smile as she tucked herself back into her sleeping bag.

The next night, Addison had just barely crawled into bed when the door opened and Daryl walked in.

"Figured I'd have to be here sooner or later," he explained, seeing her confusion.

"Oh." She watched him pull the desk chair out and momentarily wondered why she had bothered to put it away that morning. She reached down and pulled a spare blanket out of her backpack. "Here." She tossed it to him as he sat down. Daryl nodded his thanks and spread it out over himself.

That night, the first Walker had barely had time to attack her before she found herself staring up at Daryl's face.

…

Addison had two more lessons with Daryl in the following week, each in different spots to keep from drawing Walkers to their locations with all the gunfire. Rick came to the last one to be the official judge. He and Daryl set up a sort of firing range with a section of the trees in the woods. They tied strips of different color fabric from old worn-out shirts to each tree. Rick explained that they would call out a color and she would need to hit that tree. Addison nodded, having practiced a drill similar to this in the previous lesson. The two men stood back, and Addison checked her gun before nodding to signal she was ready.

"Blue. White. Red. Green. Blue. Black. Green. Red. Black. White. Red. Blue. Green," Daryl called out rapidly, hardly leaving her any time to think between targets.

Addison was able to hit every tree in the quick-paced pattern. She grinned when she turned back to the men, seeing their expressions of approval.

Rick clapped her on the shoulder. "Well, that's good enough for me," he laughed, and deemed her ready pull watch duty. "We'll set you up with someone so you can get used to it before you do it on your own," he said as they walked back to the car.

The three got back to the house around midday. There was a rope strung up between two trees, laden with freshly washed clothes. Addison didn't think that the place could appear any more domestic than it did then, right in the middle of the apocalypse. It all seemed so abnormally normal. By the looks on Rick and Daryl's faces, they were thinking the same.

Glenn came out to meet them as they unpacked the car. "Hey, Rick? Some of the group is wondering if we could get something besides just the canned food. Hershel's worried that Lori isn't getting what she and the baby need."

Daryl straightened up. "I'll go huntin'," he told Glenn, shouldering one of the packs and his crossbow.

The younger Asian man looked relieved as he turned to Addison. "How are the lessons going?"

"Pretty well, thanks," Addison replied. "I'll be pulling watch with the rest of you now."

"Awesome!" Glenn held up his hand for a high five and Addison laughed as she slapped his hand. The two of them followed Rick and Daryl back into the house. "Hey…" Glenn began. Addison raised her eyebrows at him. "Is everything okay?" Glenn asked cautiously. "The past few nig—"

Daryl spun around, cutting him off. "Ain't none of your business."

Addison briefly touched the hunter's arm as she passed to let him know it was okay. Daryl tensed but said nothing. "I'm sorry I keep waking you all up," she told Glenn, setting down her pack. "I'm fine; it's just the end of the world getting to me," she said, putting on a smile.

Glenn chuckled. "Happens to the best of us." Maggie came down the stairs then, and Glenn went to join her in the kitchen.

Out of the corner of her eye, Addison saw Daryl shake his head as he climbed the stairs to his room. She frowned as she watched him disappear around the corner. _What?_ Her mind flashed back to the thoughts she had had the first night. Was this him protecting her again? If so, he was beginning to border on overprotective. Addison's puzzlement over Daryl and his actions was broken when she heard someone clear their throat behind her. She turned to find Carol standing in the entrance with an overloaded laundry basket propped on her hip.

"Care to help sort all this?" the older woman asked, hefting the basket to rest more comfortably in her arms. Addison nodded and followed her upstairs to her room. Carol dumped the basket onto the bed and they both went to work making piles for each member of the group. "I heard you're going to be on watch now," Carol remarked, folding one of Glenn's t-shirts and setting it in his pile.

"Mhmm," Addison responded. "Rick said I'll be partnering up with someone first so I get the hang of it before I go solo."

"It'll probably be Daryl, right?"

Addison's eyes snapped up to Carol. "What do you mean?"

"Well, you two spend so much time together now; I thought that he would be the logical choice." The woman shrugged, folding another shirt.

"We're not together that much," Addison muttered, dropping a pair of Maggie's shorts on her pile.

Carol shook her head. "He spends the night in your room, doesn't he?"

Addison frowned at the implication in her question. "That doesn't mean we spend all our time together. He sits in the desk chair all night," she added to clear up any misunderstandings. A ball of socks was thrown into its owner's pile with a little more force than necessary.

"You haven't been around for too long," Carol insisted. "The rest of us, we can see how different he is around you."

"He's only just stopped hating me," Addison sighed, exasperated. She balled the last pair of socks and tossed them into a pile.

Carol loaded the finished laundry back into the basket, leaving her and Addison's piles out. "Trust me," she said, picking up the basket and heading out of the room, "hating you… he's definitely over it."

Addison stared at her back as she left to distribute everyone's clothes. For the second time that day, she was baffled. She scooped her pile into her arms and went down to her room. She deposited her load on the end of the bed, messing up the neat folds, but she intended to just stuff it all back into her backpack anyway. Addison sat heavily on the bed next to her clothes, staring at the chair that had now become Daryl's. She hadn't realized that their arrangement was so obvious to everyone else. She groaned and fell backward, covering her face with her arms. "Does _everyone_ think we're sleepingtogether?" She huffed an irritated sigh. "Ridiculous people."

"Who?" asked a voice from the doorway.

Startled, Addison smashed her heel against the bed's footboard. "Owfuck. Everyone," she snapped in pain, sitting up to rub her heel.

Daryl snorted. "Sure." He took a few more steps into the room. "I came to see if you wanted to come huntin'… if you haven't broke your foot," he added with a smirk.

"Really?" Addison jumped up and winced. "It's nothing; I'll walk it off." She paused. "I won't be too much of a bother? I don't know anything about hunting."

Daryl rolled his eyes. "If I didn't want you along, I wouldn't've asked. Think of it as practice with movin' targets."

"A Walker's bigger than a squirrel, and a lot slower."

Daryl crossed his arms and shrugged. "You can stay here; it don't make a difference to me."

"No, no, you're right, I need more practice," Addison said quickly, making Daryl roll his eyes again. She grabbed a sweatshirt out of the pile of clothes and followed him outside.

They took the hatchback down to the main highway and drove only about ten minutes before Daryl pulled off to the side. "This should be good enough," he said, turning to grab his crossbow from the backseat. Addison checked her gun and they cautiously got out, watchful for any signs of movement on the road in front of them. It was deserted. Daryl jerked his head and slipped into the woods on the side of the highway. Addison kept her gun ready at her side and fell in behind him.

Only a few minutes had passed before Daryl swung his arm out to stop her. Pressing a finger to his lips, he pointed with his crossbow at the ground about twenty feet in front of them. At first, Addison couldn't see what he was pointing at. Then it moved and she saw the rabbit pause again to nibble at a leaf. _Watch_, Daryl mouthed silently. He held the crossbow with both hands, crouching slightly, and shot. The rabbit didn't have a chance. They found it in the tall grass, and Daryl pulled his arrow free.

Addison sighed. "You make it look so easy."

"Nothin' to it," he told her, a cocky grin on his face. Addison shook her head but was unable to keep from smiling. She stooped to pick up the rabbit, and Daryl opened the pack for her to drop it in.

They walked another ten minutes before Addison spotted a squirrel on the side of a tree. Daryl motioned for her to try her hand at hunting. Addison cocked the gun as quietly as she could and brought it up to aim at the squirrel. She squeezed the trigger and the shot rang out in the silent woods. Bark burst out about three feet below the squirrel, which scampered higher up the tree, chattering shrilly, before Daryl took it down.

"We'll probably have better luck if I'm not scaring off everything in the area every time I try," Addison suggested, pushing a few locks of blonde hair that had escaped the hair tie out of her face. Daryl shrugged in a shoulder and nodded in agreement.

The rest of the afternoon, they played a game in which Addison tried to point out the rabbits and squirrels before Daryl could spot them. She lost spectacularly.

**-0-**

**I think we broke the record number of reviews on a chapter for this story so far with the last one! That was so cool! I was literally grinning from ear to ear when I checked my email. Think we can do better? ;) **

**There was a guest reviewer from the last chapter named Flowers who I wasn't able to individually reply back to, so:**

**Hi! I'm so glad you sent in a review! And I'm even happier that you like the story so far! Thank you so much for your wonderful review; I hope I get to hear from you again!**

**To everyone: Mostly just a fluffy chapter. I have found that writing fluff is not as easy as it seems.. there's not much action to drive it forward. But we'll really be getting into it after this, and I think you all will like that. So what did you think? Love.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Helloooooo lovely readers! Two things: 1) My computer screen crapped out on me, so that is the reason for the delay on this chapter update. Typing on a TV is very weird and takes a bit to get used to; 2) You guys make me so happy :) After that last chapter, I had some great conversations with a few of you, and a point of interest was brought up that I'd like to share with everyone else. You may have noticed that Carol got a fairly substantial scene with Addison in the last chapter, and some readers thought that she was jealous of the attention that Addison was getting from Daryl. I was asked if that was my intention, and my answer is: I don't really know. As I may have said before to some of you, I don't mind Carol and she can be a friend all she wants; it's Caryl and all that goes with it that I hate. Initially, yes, she was going to be jealous, but then I thought about it and I can see it going both ways - her being jealous and trying to get between Addison and Daryl, and her just being a friend and making observations. What do the rest of you think? Input would be lovely, because I write for you!**

**I'm done, enjoy!**

**-0-**

Addison quietly slipped out of her sleeping bag, careful not to wake Daryl in his chair at the end of the bed. She paused before passing him, wondering how he managed to get any sleep at all in that chair night after night. It couldn't be comfortable. Addison felt her cheeks flush as she thought of the solution for that. She quickly left the room.

Downstairs in the kitchen, she met Hershel. He was sorting through the cans on the counter with a disheartened expression on his face. He nodded in greeting to her as she surveyed the drastically smaller collection of cans. "This isn't going to last too much longer," he observed as Addison finally decided on pineapple chunks. She detested pineapple, but given that the other cans contained diced tomatoes, water chestnuts, or sauerkraut, there really wasn't a too much of a choice.

Rick came through the doorway then and he too frowned at the paltry selection. "Looks like we'll have to make a supply run… today," he added, making a face at the can of tomatoes in his hand.

"Glenn and Maggie are on watch today," Addison reminded him.

Rick nodded thoughtfully. "Well, I'll figure something out."

…

Early afternoon found Addison teaching Carl and Beth card games from her childhood.

"What's this one called?" Beth asked as Addison dealt the cards.

"Uh, 'Shampoo'," Addison said, placing the remainder of the deck on the bed between them. "But I doubt that's the original name," she added as Carl looked at her as if she was crazy.

They were part-way through a practice round when someone knocked on the door. Addison turned to see Daryl standing in the doorway, his crossbow slung across his back. "Hunting?" she asked, playing a card.

Daryl shook his head. "Supply run. Glenn and Maggie are on watch, so Rick asked me to go. Said I couldn't go alone."

"Is that so?" Addison asked amusedly. She debated pretending not to understand what he was getting at, making him ask outright, but decided against it, as entertaining as it might have been. He probably wouldn't find it as funny as she did. "I'll go get my shoes on, then," she told him, and then turned to Beth and Carl, adding, "We'll finish this when I get back, okay?"

Ten minutes later, she and Daryl were driving down the now-familiar stretch of highway towards the nearest town, under Addison's navigation. The passed the turn-off where she had her first shooting lesson. She was delighted to discover that she had improved enough for him to trust that she'd have his back if they ran into trouble in town. The ride was spent in the comfortable silence that Addison had grown accustomed to during the times she spent with the hunter, broken only when she had to tell him where to turn.

They arrived in a town called Dawsonville twenty minutes later. Addison could see that the street they were on was the main thoroughfare, and she could even see where the other side of the town ended.

"Place is barely a town," Daryl remarked, voicing Addison's thought. He steered carefully around the debris strewn about in the road.

"There," Addison said, pointing to a building on the next block. Daryl pulled up to the curb when they reached it and switched the ignition off. The storefront proclaimed "GENERAL STORE". The two checked their weapons and Addison looked over at Daryl, who nodded. They got out of the car, weapons held ready, and scanned the area for Walkers. The street was deserted. Addison secured her gun in the waistband of her shorts and pulled her knife out of its sheath. Daryl led the way into the store, swinging his crossbow back and forth in front of him in broad sweeps.

"You grab a couple baskets or a cart and start filling them up; I'll be on guard," Daryl instructed. Addison nodded and righted a shopping cart off the floor. She picked an aisle and started through it, Daryl close on her heels. The store had been picked through, but not as much as she had thought it would have been. She dumped all the cans she could reach into the cart; food was food and they were long past having the luxury of being picky. The next aisle she turned down held over-the-counter drugs. She placed several bottles of ibuprofen and other pain relievers on top of the canned food. She searched a few more aisles, wrinkling her nose at the rancid perishable foods that sat in the coolers. Down the next aisle, they found several dented jugs of drinking water and Daryl helped load them on the bottom rack of the cart.

They made their way back to the front of the store. "Need anything else?" Daryl asked.

Addison shook her head. "Don't think so. Shall we?" Together, they pushed the heavy, over-laden cart back out to the car. Daryl popped the hatch open and they emptied the cart into the back of the car.

Just as Daryl was reaching up to close the hatch, a white Ford Explorer rounded the corner at the end of the block. Both Addison and Daryl froze, warily watching the newcomers. The Explorer pulled all the way up onto the sidewalk and coasted to a halt next to their car, on Addison's side. The engine idled for a moment before shutting off. The passenger and the backseat doors opened, and then three men stepped out. Each of them had a weapon; one had a sawed-off shotgun, another carried a baseball bat spiked with nails, and the third held a crowbar. The weapons hung loosely at their sides, diminishing the feeling of a threat. Daryl stepped up, crossbow raised, positioning himself just in front of Addison. She glanced up at his face and saw that he was completely focused on the newcomers; she wondered if he had even really realized that he had placed himself between her and the men.

Then the man with the shotgun spoke up. "Well, aren't you two a sight for sore eyes? Haven't seen any survivors outside of camp in, what? Weeks, surely." The other two nodded in agreement, their gaze shifting between Daryl, his crossbow, and Addison. "Where are you two staying?" continued Shotgun. When Daryl didn't answer, the man looked at Addison. She frowned, disliking the feeling she was getting from him. "I see. No hard feelings; I understand. Well you are more than welcome to follow us and join our camp. We're pretty well set up in a motel a few miles east of here. All we ask is that you lend us your services to help out around the place." At this, all three men stared at Addison.

Daryl shifted, further blocking her from view. Addison could have sworn she almost heard him growl.

"We're not interested, thank you," she said around his arm.

Baseball-Bat and Crowbar still hadn't taken their eyes off her. Shotgun sighed. "You sure? We're an open community. We share everything and nobody goes wanting. There's other women there, too, not just us, and they have their own ways of contributing."

"We're leaving," Daryl snarled, grabbing Addison's arm and pushing her back to the other side of the car, still keeping himself between her and the men. Shotgun smirked.

"It's the end of the world… we can't afford to be selfish, now can we?"

Daryl stopped pushing and turned, glaring at Shotgun. He started forward, bringing up the crossbow.

"Daryl!" Addison hissed. She grabbed a fistful of his shirt and yanked him back. He ignored her efforts, so she stepped in front of him, pushing on his chest. He was breathing heavily, rage etched in his expression. He noticed her after a moment and wrapped an arm around her, putting her behind him again, but finally moving back. "Get the hatch," she muttered, slipping out of his grip. She climbed over the driver's side into the passenger's seat and Daryl slammed the hatch shut and sat down behind the wheel seconds later. He peeled out onto the street and continued to floor the gas until they were well onto the highway again. Addison glanced over at him and saw that his expression was still deadly. She bit her lip, her heart still racing from the encounter.

After about fifteen minutes, Daryl took an exit.

"Where are you going?" Addison asked, sitting up straighter.

"Good chance they'll be following," he told her shortly. Addison got the map out of the glove compartment and tried to follow where he was going so she could get them back to the house once he decided that they had lost the men.

They had been riding in silence for another fifteen minutes when Daryl finally spoke:

"You should've let me kill them."

Addison took a few moments to think about it. "You aren't a killer," she finally disagreed. "A hunter, yes," she went on as Daryl opened his mouth to argue. "But I think I've gotten to know you well enough to tell that you wouldn't kill a human."

Daryl squeezed his eyes shut for a moment. "I killed a man before," he confessed quietly. He then proceeded to tell her about a former member of the group that had been in the wrong place at the wrong time. "Fuckin' Walker nearly tore him to shreds. Guts spillin' out everywhere. Rick was gonna do it, but he'd already gone through so much. So I took the gun. Shot Dale in the head. He was human."

Addison had already begun to shake her head. "That's not the same. You saved him; he would've become a Walker." She sighed. "Killing those guys… That's murder."

"They deserve it," Daryl argued heatedly. "You can't tell me you ain't thinkin' the same!"

Addison rubbed her face and sighed again. "I agree with you," she relented. "But Daryl, if we go back and kill those shitheads, then we're no better."

Daryl was silent for several minutes. Addison began to worry that he was mad with her for stopping him from killing the bastards. She turned back to the map to find where they were. After a couple minutes of searching, she found the right road, put her finger on it, and began to look for a way back to the house from where they were. Then:

"You don't go on any more supply runs without me, got it?"

Addison stared at Daryl, the map completely forgotten in her lap. He kept his eyes on the road straight ahead.

"_Got it?_" he repeated when she didn't immediately answer.

"Y-yeah, promise," she stammered.

"Good." His expression relaxed slightly. "Let's get back." Addison looked back down at the map, located the road again, and directed him back to the house.

**-0-**

**Reply to Flowers: I'm sorry for the wait; I hope you're not too mad! Thanks for the review, dear!**

**Reply to Lilly72: Hello! I'm so glad you like it so far! I tend to develop relationships really quickly, so I'm trying super hard to slow it down with Addison & Daryl and make it good :) Thank you so much for your fantastic review!**

**Everyone: How about that, huh? Couple quick end-notes: 1) I have begun to get a little distracted while writing… the products of this distraction are on my DeviantArt profile, and the link to that can be found on my profile page here on FanFiction. I will try to remember to let you know when I post more on there at the end of chapters; 2) Please let me know what you think, both for this chapter and the question posed in the note at the beginning! Love.**


	14. Chapter 14

**Hi. I'm still alive. I finally got my new computer! … And then I got stomach flu. This chapter has been slowly in the works for a while, and I'm glad it's finally done, even though I'm not sure it's any good. Please let me know what you think!**

**-0-**

When Addison and Daryl pulled up next to the Suburban, Rick and T-Dog were coming from around the back of the house, machetes out. Rick handed his to T-Dog and wiped his brow, watching them approach.

Daryl got right to the point. "There's another group nearby."

Rick considered the hunter's words. "Friendly?" he asked without much hope.

"Not remotely," Addison muttered, remembering how the men had stared at her, with a hunger quite different from that of a Walker. She folded her arms in front of her chest.

"Woulda been back sooner, but we had to make sure they weren't follwin'," Daryl said, hoisting his crossbow onto his shoulder.

Rick nodded. "We'll post an extra person during watch," he decided. He scanned the woods around them, looking both alert and tired at the same time.

Dinner was quiet. Rick had called a group meeting just before they began to eat and told everyone about the new group. Everyone was too nervous to talk much. That night after dinner, as Daryl settled down into his chair, he told Addison about the group they had encountered while they had lived on Hershel's farm.

"Punk knew Maggie, so Rick and Shane brought him back again so's he couldn't go tell his buddies where the farm was."

Addison brought her knees up to her chest and rested her chin on top. "But it sounded like his group abandoned him. Why couldn't he become a part of this group? Rick let me in without a second thought – how did he know I wasn't a threat?"

"You seen yourself?" Daryl snorted. Addison chucked her pillow at him, which he caught easily. He raised his eyebrows at her, daring her to try again. Addison huffed and hugged her knees to herself once again. Daryl tucked the pillow behind him and continued. "Couldn't risk trustin' this kid. Had a huge group and not a nice one, neither. That's why everyone's so scared right now. If we didn't lose those dicks, we could have some serious trouble on our hands."

"We lost them, Daryl," Addison tried to assure him. "There wasn't anyone in sight the whole time – I don't think they even followed us out of town." He still didn't look convinced, but he shrugged and tossed her pillow back. She caught it and then bit her lip, thinking.

"What?"

Addison started, not realizing she had been staring at him while she had been lost in thought. "Oh, it's – it's nothing… I was just thinking that chair can't be comfortable." She hesitated. Daryl was silent, and after a moment, he lifted an eyebrow, waiting for her to go on. Addison sighed. "I haven't had the nightmare for a couple days now… so I was thinking that… you could go back to your room and get some proper sleep in a real bed," she finished quietly, looking down at the pillow in her lap. She could feel Daryl's eyes studying her.

"S'pose I could," he finally said.

Addison heard the floorboards creak slightly as he stood and put the chair back by the desk. "Thank you, for everything," she told him, looking up as he reached the door. He gave her a stiff nod and left. In the light of the lantern, the space Daryl usually occupied at the foot of the bed looked even emptier than it had any right to. It looked wrong. "Stupid," she muttered to herself, punching the pillow before burying her face in it.

When Addison woke, the early morning sun was just beginning to peak through the window above the bed. Her eyes automatically went to the spot where Daryl should have been. She caught herself almost wishing that she would have had the nightmare. _And you thought things couldn't get any more messed up_. She sighed and swung her legs over the edge of the bed.

Downstairs, she found Carol picking through canned goods. Addison nodded in greeting and grabbed a can of baked beans.

"I wish we could have a real, cooked meal," Carol sighed.

Addison suppressed a flash of irritation as she rummaged through the drawers for a spoon. "Yeah, we all do. Food is food though, and at this point, we can't afford to be picky." She bumped the drawer closed with her hip.

"I suppose," Carol agreed, setting yet another can down. "I just miss it, is all. I just can't believe that there's nothing out there besides canned stuff… like MREs or, I don't know, something flash-frozen, or maybe dried. Just a change from all the cans."

"If there were, Carol, we'd've grabbed them," Addison managed to say evenly, prying the top off of the can of beans.

"Oh, I'm not saying just your latest run," Carol went on, oblivious to the warning in Addison's voice. "I mean in general. All this preserved food for so long makes a person get a hankering for a hot, home-cooked meal."

Addison slammed her can down, splattering a few beans on the counter and her hand. "Then either go get yourself a goddamn time machine or quit complaining about it!" Carol stared at her, looking slightly hurt, but Addison ignored her. She swiped her can of beans from the counter again and strode out of the kitchen. Catching sight of Daryl coming down the stairs, Addison swerved over to the front doors and escaped outside.

The chill morning air raised goose bumps on her bare arms. She reached the clearing with the valley overlook that she and Rick had discovered the first morning at the house. Finding a fallen tree, she made herself as comfortable as possible on the damp trunk, setting her can next to her, no longer hungry. She was fully aware that there had been no real reason for her to snap at Carol like that. The food situation was one that everyone had in mind. Who didn't wish for the old days? But it didn't matter anymore. They were gone. Talking about it wouldn't bring them back, and it only made living now that much harder.

Even so, just that wasn't a good enough reason to jump down the woman's throat, as aggravating as it was. Addison had felt irritated before she had even left her room. Suddenly she knew why. "No. No, no, no." She thumped the heel of her hands into her temples with each denial. That stupid redneck had invaded her life without asking and now she couldn't even have a good day without him. Addison recalled Daryl's confused look when she had seen him on the stairs before leaving the house in a rush. He probably had heard at least the end of her outburst. _How embarrassing._

Several twigs cracked behind her.

"I wondered when you'd come find me."

"Carol's none too happy with you."

"When she starts contributing to the food supply, then she can complain about it. Until then, I don't want to hear it." _And there I go again._

She heard Daryl sigh, and she could imagine him running a hand through his already-mussed hair. "I know she ain't the easiest to get along with," he began, "but it's just somethin' you gotta deal with. We can't afford to hate each other. Didn't turn out so well last time."

"I know, I'm sorry. Woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning, I guess." Addison finally picked up her beans and reluctantly began to eat, unwilling to let it go to waste.

Daryl stepped over the log and sat beside her. "You and me both." He leaned forward and rested his arms on his knees, looking out over the valley.

Addison smiled when she caught him stealing glances at the can in her hand more than once. "Here, dummy." He took the can and scarfed down the rest in the space of a couple minutes. They sat in silence as the sun rose higher over the valley of trees. Addison finally felt the calmness she had been missing that morning.

Stupid redneck.

…

Addison quietly played Solitaire on the coffee table in the sunroom, listening in on Rick and Hershel's conversation in the dining room.

"Food's running low again, and we also need to start looking for baby formula; we'll need that before too long."

"Well, we'll have to go the other way. Can't risk going the way Daryl and Addison went again. Hit up one of these towns." Addison could hear Rick's finger brushing across the map to different towns.

"Who's going to go?" Hershel asked. "T-Dog and Glenn are on watch and Daryl's out trying to hunt."

"Rick, I don't want you to go. Not after what happened last time there was another group around," Lori's voice interjected from the kitchen. "I can't go through that again." Addison heard Rick sigh quietly.

Hershel cleared his throat. "That leaves the girls and the kids. I wish we hadn't waited so long."

"We'll do better next time," Rick muttered. "Beth and Carl can't go, too young. And I want you here to keep an eye on Lori; she wasn't feelin' too good this morning."

"I suppose Maggie and Addison could go," Hershel said, though he sounded reluctant. Addison paused in her game, listening for Rick's answer.

He sighed again. "I promised that I wouldn't let Addison go after the last time," he said. She knew full-well who Rick had promised because he sure as hell hadn't promised her any such thing. If Hershel found it a strange excuse, he didn't comment on it. "That just leaves Maggie and Carol." Rick didn't sound overly confident.

"Me and Carol for what?" Maggie asked from the kitchen, presumably preparing Glenn something to eat while on watch. Addison resumed her game, feeling a little bad that Maggie was stuck with Carol, but at the same time glad it wasn't herself.

"For a supply run," said Hershel, clearly still not happy that Maggie had to go.

There was a pause as Maggie considered this. "With Carol?"

"I don't want you to go alone," Hershel said, and Rick made a noise of agreement.

Maggie came into view through the doorway, shaking her head. "No, I'm sorry, but I'd be better off alone. She's never gone on a run and I ain't sure I trust her shooting skills enough to have my back if we get into a scrape."

"Maggie, we don't know where that other group is and we can't risk you running into them alone," Rick pressed.

Maggie snorted. "And you think they'll back off if Carol's with me?" When Rick didn't answer, she went on, "I'll be faster without her, you know that. In and out, just like at the farm. I did plenty of solo runs before your group came." From the silence, Addison knew Maggie had won the argument.

"All right," Rick finally said wearily. "Here's where you're going."

Maggie moved out of sight again to look at the map Rick and Hershel had been looking at before. Addison scooped all the cards together and stacked them neatly in the middle of the table. Wishing to avoid the dining room and kitchen, she went through the library and the office to get back to the stairs and went up to her room. _So Maggie's going on her own?_ Addison hoped Daryl would get back soon. She planned to give him an earful.

Three and a half hours and one room rearrangement later, Addison finally heard the familiar thudding footsteps of Daryl's boots downstairs. He immediately began to climb the stairs, meaning he hadn't found anything worth hunting. She heard him come down the hall and go into his room a few doors down from hers. She waited a minute, and then went to his room. He was standing over the bed, running a semi-clean rag over his crossbow. Addison tapped the doorframe and Daryl looked up at her and then jerked his head for her to come in.

"Nothing out there today?" she asked, leaning against the dresser.

Daryl shook his head. "Saw a few rabbits, but they wouldn't've made much of a meal, even all together."

"Bummer." Addison chewed on her lip for a moment. "Maggie went out for more food and supplies," she said, trying to hide the frustration that had been growing all afternoon.

Daryl didn't look up from his crossbow. "Why you tellin' me?"

Addison frowned. "Aren't you worried about her?"

"She'll be fine." Daryl tossed the rag on the bed.

Addison pushed herself off the dresser and moved to the end of the bed. "Seriously? You made me promise that I wouldn't go out without you, but she can go on her own?" She crossed her arms over her chest.

He didn't look at her. "'S not the same," he mumbled uncomfortably.

Addison narrowed her eyes, frustration beginning to seethe. "You're right, it's not," she hissed. "And it makes no sense because I can take care of myself a hundred times better than she can take care of herself – she's never had to live on her own! How are you not worried?"

"Told you. 'S not the same." He moved around her and set his crossbow on the desk.

Addison planted her fists on her hips. "And I told you that doesn't make any sense! Why isn't it the same, Daryl?"

He turned his back to her, fiddling with the strap on the crossbow. "'Cuz she's not you," he muttered, almost inaudibly.

"What…?" She could tell he was unbelievablly uncomfortable. He wasn't one to talk about himself or his feelings. If there was ever a man's man, it would be Daryl. Addison didn't want to ruin what she had with the hunter, not after how far they had come since they first met. But she was never one to put up with unfairness, and if that meant pushing Daryl for an answer, then she would do it. He still hadn't responded, or even turned around. "Daryl?"

He rubbed his face with his hands and then slowly turned to face her. Addison began to chew her lip again anxiously. Every line of his body revealed how uneasy he was with this kind of conversation. "Don't like the thought of you being somewhere I can't keep an eye on you," he finally admitted, looking at everything in the room but her.

Addison blinked. And then blinked again. "Oh." At a loss of what to think, she watched him look around the room for a moment. Finally, Addison decided to take it for what it was and not push him any further. She knew getting this much out of him was a spectacular feat. "Okay."

He finally looked at her. "Okay? That's it?"

"That's it. If it makes you feel better, makes your life easier, then I'll do my best to stay where you can see me. Joke's on you though," she added, smiling when he frowned in confusion. "You're gonna be stuck with me, sucker," she clarified. Daryl rolled his eyes, but Addison caught the half-smile as he shooed her out of the room for dinner.

**-0-**

**Reply to new reviewer ****Jennie****: Hello! Thank you so much for your wonderful review! I love that you like it so far, and I hope this chapter was okay! Thanks dear!**

**So I really hope you all liked this chapter… I have no idea when I'm going to be able to get the next one out. I start student teaching next week, and from what I saw of my friends when they went through it (which is to say I pretty much didn't see them at all), I expect that I'm not going to have a lot of free time. I will do my best, but I can't promise anything or even give you an estimate. All I can say is that I hope you don't lose interest! Also, as always, please let me know what you thought of this chapter! Love.**


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